World War 3. Has it begun?

Terrorism is a common practice, usually committed by a national government against its own citizenry.

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I think the distinction is that there haven't been NEARLY as many Tim McVeighs as there have been Islamic fundamentalist terrorists.

If we had a bunch of Skinhead or neo-Nazi or Survivalist terrorists, bombing here in high numbers--or around the world with growing frequency, we'd be talking about the problem THEY are.

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I stand behind my statement that there are a faction of people, who seem to be all radical Muslims, that for whatever reason in their minds, are hell bent on attacking anyone that share their beliefs on how the world is viewed and how we worship God. Seems pretty cut and dry to me....but apparently not to everyone.

I agree with you, partially. The Al Quaida terrorists responsible for 9/11 are examples of religious fanatics.

I think when you say they are attacking up based on "how we worship God", it is awfully simplistic. There have been no attacks in Ireland, South Africa, Canada, Peru or any of the countless other predominantly Christian countries, but I digress.

There are plenty of example of terrorists, who happen to be Muslim, who commit their crimes for clearly politically reasons. The Chechen terrorists, for example, are responding to what they see as an unjustified obliteration of their country by Russian occupiers. This is no more a religious attack than FARC, or even OK city.

Again, I don;t think any of these acts are justified at all. I am not sure that religiously motivated barbaric violence is any worse than non-religiously motivated barbaric violence.

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world war 3
i have just read a review of the book "no god but god : the origins, evolution, and future of islam" by reza aslan, a young iranian-born american writer.
i'll have to ask the librariam to put it on the "to buy list".
if i understand the book review correctly, the "war" is really between the fundamentalist muslims and the moderate muslims - and the western nations are "collateral damage" - i think i've heard that expression being used elsewhere. hbg
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from the review :
Though it is the fastest growing religion in the world, Islam remains shrouded by ignorance and fear. What is the essence of this ancient faith? Is it a religion of peace or war? How does Allah differ from the God of Jews and Christians? Can an Islamic state be founded on democratic values such as pluralism and human rights? A writer and scholar of comparative religions, Reza Aslan has earned international acclaim for the passion and clarity he has brought to these questions. In No god but God, challenging the "clash of civilizations" mentality that has distorted our view of Islam, Aslan explains this critical faith in all its complexity, beauty, and compassion.

the full article :
...THE TRIUMPH OF THE FUNDAMENTALIST...

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Interesting review and a book to watch out for. But it got me thinking. Why Islam?

I mean Buddhism has two (acknowleding the third Tibetan but putting it aside for a moment) main schools of thought - Mahayana and Theravada and they differ markedly (or so I understand) on some important points of interpretation (those left behind after the passing of the principal seem determined to squabble) yet to the best of my knowledge they haven't gone to war with each other.

I hope this isn't an inadvertent threadjack. If it is then just follow the SOP :wink:

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i don't know much - or rather anything - about buddhism. i think i read somewhere that buddhism is not an "exclusive" religion. you may practice buddhism while at the same time practice some other religion ??? can someone throw some light on this ?
if that is true, buddhism has no fear of becoming obsolete and need not kill its opponents.
some of the older books i have - some written in the 1930's - also mention the violent struggle between the two main islamic factions ; i can never remember who-is-who.
somehow it reminds of the war between catholics and protestants in europe ; i believe an example was the 30 year war, which was very devastating and gruesome. hbg

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Listening.

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hbg, As a matter of fact, the citizens of Japan practice both buddhism and shintoism concurrently. Some practice buddhism and christianity conccurrently. In Hong Kong, there's a church in the New Territories that practices buddhism, confucianism, and taoism concurrently at the Yuen Yuen Institute.

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c.i. said:

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In Hong Kong, there's a church in the New Territories that practices buddhism, confucianism, and taoism concurrently at the Yuen Yuen Institute.

Yikes!!!! I can't magage to believe in any one thing, let alone three simultaneously!

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sumac, For your reading pleasure.
Revised with better link on Yuen Yuen Institute.
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/touring/hkiidistricts/ta_dist_tuse2.jhtml

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goodfielder wrote:

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Is there then a difference between "terrorism"and "guerilla warfare" ? I need to add that this isn't a rhetorical question or some form of disingenuousness on my part, it just occurred to me to ask it.

Good question...I would say yes there is a difference. Have to do a little reading up before I can properly state why here, as to not stick my foot in my mouth.

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Guerilla warfare seeks support and membership through identification with a cause and its constituents. It is a mostly political movement aimed at turning local popular opinion/support.

Terrorism does not foster support with anybody other than those who are already predisposed to the cause in question. Its a fear tactic. Its goal is to cow people.

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Thank you, c.i. I went.

"The Institute's purpose is to spread the principles of these three religions, to uphold the eight virtues (i.e. filial piety, respect, loyalty, fidelity, propriety, justice, honesty and honour) and to promote social welfare."

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Brown
I have defined the terrorism of which I speak several times on this thread take it or leave it. Your attempts to expand it based upon your beliefs as expressed on past threads is quite transparent.
The fact remains that at the present time the preponderance of acts of terror against the civilian populations is the handiwork of Moslems. Acts that you seem to want to defend or mollify by expanding the scope of terrorism.

Again I will ask you straight out and if it is possible for you give a straight answer. Who the hell is at the present time committing the preponderance of acts of terror around the world against civilian populations?.

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If you point me to your definition ... I would appreciate it. I don't think I have ever seen a definition from you.

In the past 5 years, there has been an huge upsurge in the activity with Al Quaida. This has been coupled with flare ups in two major conflicts where Muslims are the weaker side of assymetric conflict (Palestine and Chechnya). Based on this, you may be right that Muslims commit these acts more often for the past 5 years, although these are not exclusive. There are still Hindus, Christians and Maoists commiting acts of terror.

If you look at the 90's, there were numerous incidents of terrorist activy from FARC, ETA, the Lord's resistance army and the RIRA. During this time, the PLO and related groups were just one of a number of causes that were willing to use terrorism. There was a Israeli terrorism including a gentleman who shot up a mosque, Hindu terrorims and of course Tim McVeigh.

In my opinion, all of this pales in comparison to the genocide in Rwanda (a Christian nation) where 800,000 civilians, men women and childre were killed in cold blood. Was this an act of terrorism?

There is a straight answer. Now when can I have my definition?

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Brown
I wrote

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Be realistic. All Moslems are not terrorists. However, at the moment almost all terrorists, or whatever you choose to call them, are Moslems. Has there been an instance where a suicide bomber was not a Moslem.
I would also ask you what you would call those who place bombs in buses, trains, markets and the like with the express purpose of killing innocents if not terrorists.

and this

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I beg to differ. I am not using the term Moslem and terrorist interchangeably. I said that most terrorist at this point are Moslems. Is that not so? As for what is a terrorist, those who bomb trains, buses, hotels, resorts and the like, for the express purpose of killing civilians. eg. London, NY. Madrid, Turkey and etc.

At this point i should point out that the original question was, has World war 3 begun?
And in that regard I wrote

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Some call it insurgency,others freedom fighters and than again some call it terrorism. No matter how it is called it is indicative of the way war is being waged at the present time. Since it is being waged in every corner of the world. What else can it be called if not a world war

Your questions regarding what is terrrorism not withstanding. what is your opinion or answer to the question asked

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If it walks like a duck and looks like a duck.....

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Brown
If you want to have a discussion on the definition of a terrorism and who is a terrorist You may want to start a Thread or use the one I noted previously. "The enemy within" as a base.

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c.i. : thanks for your enlightening comments !
buddhismism seems to be the only(?) major religious group that is not afraid for people to have their own minds and make their own decision, and having to follow blindly a "doctrine".
we have some youg buddhists living close to us - just a five minute walk through our city park - and they fit in very nicely into the multi-cultural/religous mix of canada. hbg

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Instigate wrote:

Guerilla warfare seeks support and membership through identification with a cause and its constituents. It is a mostly political movement aimed at turning local popular opinion/support.

Terrorism does not foster support with anybody other than those who are already predisposed to the cause in question. Its a fear tactic. Its goal is to cow people.

Thank you Instigate, very succinct.

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World War 3. Has it begun?

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