This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com:
- Bizarre blasphemy charge against Pakistan girl takes new bizarre twist
- The Gen-X connection with Pakistan’s blasphemy laws
- Mali Islamist terrorists claim to have killed an Algerian diplomat
- Two bombs explode in Damascus, Syria, in secure area
- Syria’s neighbors overwhelmed by 1.2 million Syrian refugees
Bizarre blasphemy charge against Pakistan girl takes new bizarre twist
On August 16, Rimsha Masih, a developmentally disabled 14-year-old Christiangirl in a suburb of Islamabad, Pakistan, was arrested for blasphemy,accused of burning papers containing verses from the Quran. The casedrew worldwide outrage, as governments and human rights groupsdemanded that she be released. Even Muslim groups demanded leniency.Suddenly the case has taken a new bizarre twist, as Imam KhalidJadoon, the Muslim cleric who had originally accused Rimsha ofblasphemy, has himself been accused of manufacturing evidence. Jadoonwas arrested on Saturday, after his deputy and two of his assistantsin his mosque came forward and said that Jadoon had added the burnedQuran pages to the garbage that the girl had been carrying. The threesaid they had tried to talk Jadoon out of doing this, but he said,area.” It’s hoped that Rimsha will be freed from prison on Monday.Dawn (Karachi)
The Gen-X connection with Pakistan’s blasphemy laws
The application of blasphemy laws in Pakistan is extremely irrational, as Idescribed in “26-Apr-12 World View — New report examines terrorism and religious extremism in Pakistan,” based on a detailed report by Pakistan’s Jinnah Institute. While the blasphemylaws sometimes target Christians, as in the case of Rimsha, they’re used byMuslims to target other Muslims in well over 90% of the cases, usually bySunni Muslims targeting Shia Muslims or Sufis or Ahmadis. Thousands ofPakistanis have been jailed, tortured, or killed by means of the blasphemylaws. But what’s really remarkable is ordinary Pakistanis accept this,and they refuse to speak out against it.
This is exactly the kind of behavior that I’ve been describing inGeneration-Xers in America, where thousands of Gen-X financialengineers created the financial crisis with the purpose of defraudinghated Boomers, without being investigated or sent to jail, becauseGen-Xers refuse to blame other Gen-Xers for anything, even seriouscrimes. It’s this refusal to blame other Gen-Xers for crimes thatcharacterizes this generation today versus the Boomers, and it’sexactly the same kind of behavior we’re seeing in the Pakistanipopulation today.
As I explained in “The Legacy of World War I and the Holocaust,” this is also the samebehavior that led to the 1930s Holocaust. Germany’s Lost Generation(the generational predecessor of today’s Generation-X) hated theprevious Missionary Generation just as much as today’s Gen-Xershate the previous Boomer Generation.
These situations occur in all times and places throughout history, andresult in history’s greatest catastrophes. In each case, thegenerational conflict morphs into a political conflict, as people inevery generation are forced to choose sides in the generationaldebate. In 1930s Germany, it was the Christians blaming the Jews forGerman humiliation in World War I. In America today, it’s theDemocrats blaming the Republicans for the Nasdaq crash in 2000. InPakistan, it’s the Sunnis blaming the Shias. The result is always thesame: catastrophe.
Mali Islamist terrorists claim to have killed an Algerian diplomat
The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa [MUJAO], a terroristgroup associated with Ansar Dine, the al-Qaeda linked jihadist groupthat’s taken control of much of Mali, claims to have executed akidnapped Algerian diplomat. Seven Algerian diplomats were kidnappedfrom a consulate in Gao on April 5 during the takeover of northernMali. Three of the hostages were freed in July, and MUJAO has threatenedto kill the others unless jihadist prisoners are released. Algeriasaid that the death hasn’t been confirmed.
Ansar Dine, and now MUJAO, have been taking control of increasinglylarge regions of Mali, and it’s feared that the capital Bamako willeventually be threatened. France and Algeria would both like amilitary force to intervene, since both are vulnerable to terroristattacks from Ansar Dine, but the United Nations has refused to gofarther than issuing the usual condemnation of violence. The death ofan Algerian diplomat, if confirmed, would raise the pressure formilitary intervention. Al-Jazeera
Two bombs explode in Damascus, Syria, in secure area
In a new sign that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has reducedsecurity in Damascus, two terrorist bombs exploded on Sunday in asupposedly secure area near the compound housing the army and airforce headquarters in central Damascus. The Ahfad al-Rasul(Grandchildren of the Prophet) battalion of the Free Syrian Army (FSA)claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that they had help fromelements of the Syrian Army guarding the compound. The FSA are theSunni rebels who are fighting the Syrian army and demanding al-Assad’souster. This is another significant humiliation to al-Assad, thoughnot as bad as the July 18 bombing that killed much of his innercircle. ( “22-Jul-12 World View — Damascus bombing marks a significant change in Syria”)Al-Assad has been rarely seen in public since July 18, presumablybecause he know longer knows whom he can trust. Daily Star (Beirut) and Al-Jazeera
Syria’s neighbors overwhelmed by 1.2 million Syrian refugees
Over 1.2 million refugees from Syria have been flooding into Turkey,Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, and the flood is only increasing, strainingthe resources of these neighboring countries. Jordan said it does nothave the means to handle the 70,000-160,000 refugees that it has sofar, and it’s requesting international aid of $700 million from theUnited Nations refugees’ agency. Khaleej Times (Dubai)
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