Octopus Overlords

In 2012, a wide-ranging WIN/Gallup International poll found that 5 percent of Saudi citizens—more than a million people—self-identify as “convinced atheists,” the same percentage as in the United States.

GreenGoo wrote:Neat, but not surprising. You can see small elements of that mindset occasionally in North America. An obvious one is "how can you be moral if you don't believe in god?"

Shame about the beatings though. As an atheist I would literally tell them anything they wanted to hear to get them to stop beating me. What do I care?

Nigerian troops rescued 200 girls and 93 women Tuesday in the Sambisa Forest, the Nigerian Armed Forces announced on its official Twitter account. ...

...Nigerian troops also captured and destroyed three terrorist camps in the Sambisa Forest, the armed forces said. Chibok and the Sambisa Forest are both in the northeastern part of the country. Olukolade said troops are still combing the forest.

In recent weeks, Nigerian troops and vigilantes moved into the Sambisa Forest, a known hideout for Boko Haram.

Rip wrote:

GreenGoo wrote:Neat, but not surprising. You can see small elements of that mindset occasionally in North America. An obvious one is "how can you be moral if you don't believe in god?"

Shame about the beatings though. As an atheist I would literally tell them anything they wanted to hear to get them to stop beating me. What do I care?

Then when you tell them someone has financed your effort they execute you for treason. On the bright side the beatings probably would stop.

Pyperkub wrote:Some great news out of Nigeria:

Nigerian troops rescued 200 girls and 93 women Tuesday in the Sambisa Forest, the Nigerian Armed Forces announced on its official Twitter account. ...

...Nigerian troops also captured and destroyed three terrorist camps in the Sambisa Forest, the armed forces said. Chibok and the Sambisa Forest are both in the northeastern part of the country. Olukolade said troops are still combing the forest.

In recent weeks, Nigerian troops and vigilantes moved into the Sambisa Forest, a known hideout for Boko Haram.

Chinese authorities have ordered Muslim shopkeepers and restaurant owners in a village in the troubled Xinjiang region to sell alcohol and cigarettes and promote them in ‘‘eye-catching displays’’ — an attempt to undermine Islam’s hold on local residents, Radio Free Asia reported. Establishments that fail to comply may be closed and their owners prosecuted.

...

‘‘We have a campaign to weaken religion here, and this is part of that campaign,’’ he told the Washington-based news service.

The notice ordered restaurants and supermarkets in Aktash to sell five brands of alcohol and cigarettes and display them prominently. ‘‘Anybody who neglects this notice and fails to act will see their shops sealed off, their businesses suspended, and legal action pursued against them,’’ it said.

Kraken wrote:China's got it all figured out.

Chinese authorities have ordered Muslim shopkeepers and restaurant owners in a village in the troubled Xinjiang region to sell alcohol and cigarettes and promote them in ‘‘eye-catching displays’’ — an attempt to undermine Islam’s hold on local residents, Radio Free Asia reported. Establishments that fail to comply may be closed and their owners prosecuted.

...

‘‘We have a campaign to weaken religion here, and this is part of that campaign,’’ he told the Washington-based news service.

The notice ordered restaurants and supermarkets in Aktash to sell five brands of alcohol and cigarettes and display them prominently. ‘‘Anybody who neglects this notice and fails to act will see their shops sealed off, their businesses suspended, and legal action pursued against them,’’ it said.

Party down, Mohammad!

Ananta Bijoy Das, a Bangladeshi writer known for advocating science and secularism, was hacked to death by masked men wielding machetes while on his way to work Tuesday morning.

Saudi Arabia is advertising for eight new executioners, recruiting extra staff to carry out an increasing number of death sentences, usually done by public beheading.

No special qualifications are needed for the jobs whose main role is “executing a judgment of death” but also involve performing amputations on those convicted of lesser offences, the advert, posted on the civil service jobs portal, said.

hepcat wrote:That's hypocrisy, not irony.

hepcat wrote:Iran is simply being hypocritical.

hepcat wrote: Iran is simply being hypocritical.

Kraken wrote:

hepcat wrote: Iran is simply being hypocritical.

No, they are being iranic.

Moliere wrote:

hepcat wrote:Iran is simply being hypocritical.

Is it ironic that a noted bleeding heart liberal thinks all Middle Eastern countries look alike?

hepcat wrote:

Moliere wrote:

hepcat wrote:Iran is simply being hypocritical.

Is it ironic that a noted bleeding heart liberal thinks all Middle Eastern countries look alike?

Sorry, I was perusing some stuff on the Iranian deal prior to this. But if you want to turn a typo into a passive aggressive insult, have at it.

Kraken wrote:China's got it all figured out.

Chinese authorities have ordered Muslim shopkeepers and restaurant owners in a village in the troubled Xinjiang region to sell alcohol and cigarettes and promote them in ‘‘eye-catching displays’’ — an attempt to undermine Islam’s hold on local residents, Radio Free Asia reported. Establishments that fail to comply may be closed and their owners prosecuted.

...

‘‘We have a campaign to weaken religion here, and this is part of that campaign,’’ he told the Washington-based news service.

The notice ordered restaurants and supermarkets in Aktash to sell five brands of alcohol and cigarettes and display them prominently. ‘‘Anybody who neglects this notice and fails to act will see their shops sealed off, their businesses suspended, and legal action pursued against them,’’ it said.

Party down, Mohammad!

Kraken wrote:

hepcat wrote: Iran is simply being hypocritical.

No, they are being iranic.

Moliere wrote:Terrorist Attack in France Leaves One Decapitated at Factory

Three French officials say the decapitated victim found in an attack on an American gas factory in France was the suspect's employer.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing, said the victim was believed to have died before the suspect got a car through the factory's gates and rammed into gas canisters Friday morning. That triggered an explosion that officials say injured two people.

A French police official says the man in custody, Yassine Salhi, is a resident in his 30s of the Lyon suburb of Saint-Priest. Police have not named his employer but say he is the head of a local transportation company.

Moliere wrote:Ramadan celebrations are in full swing.

Gunmen kill at least 27 in attack on Tunisian coastal resort hotels
Terrorist Attack in France Leaves One Decapitated at Factory
Kuwait Paramedic, Rights Group: 16 Killed in Mosque Attack
Somalia: Islamic State car bomb aimed at UAE officials kills three Somali soldiers

Drazzil wrote:

Moliere wrote:Ramadan celebrations are in full swing.

Gunmen kill at least 27 in attack on Tunisian coastal resort hotels
Terrorist Attack in France Leaves One Decapitated at Factory
Kuwait Paramedic, Rights Group: 16 Killed in Mosque Attack
Somalia: Islamic State car bomb aimed at UAE officials kills three Somali soldiers

I wonder how long it's going to take the world to declare an out and out war against Islam.

LawBeefaroni wrote:

Drazzil wrote:

Moliere wrote:Ramadan celebrations are in full swing.

Gunmen kill at least 27 in attack on Tunisian coastal resort hotels
Terrorist Attack in France Leaves One Decapitated at Factory
Kuwait Paramedic, Rights Group: 16 Killed in Mosque Attack
Somalia: Islamic State car bomb aimed at UAE officials kills three Somali soldiers

I wonder how long it's going to take the world to declare an out and out war against Islam.

I think it's already been declared on Islam by Islam. Islamic militants target and kill more Muslims than anyone else.

Holman wrote:

LawBeefaroni wrote:

Drazzil wrote:

Moliere wrote:Ramadan celebrations are in full swing.

Gunmen kill at least 27 in attack on Tunisian coastal resort hotels
Terrorist Attack in France Leaves One Decapitated at Factory
Kuwait Paramedic, Rights Group: 16 Killed in Mosque Attack
Somalia: Islamic State car bomb aimed at UAE officials kills three Somali soldiers

I wonder how long it's going to take the world to declare an out and out war against Islam.

I think it's already been declared on Islam by Islam. Islamic militants target and kill more Muslims than anyone else.

I assume Drazzil meant

"out and out war against the subset of Islam that perpetrates violence in its name while enmeshed within the larger, multifarious character of the religion as it exists across a broad spectrum of cultural and national contexts," temporarily forgetting that that is what we've been trying in one way or another since 2001,

and not

"out and out war like the Nazis and Taliban do it."

At age 21, Niloofar Rahmani became Afghanistan’s first female fixed-wing military pilot, living out her father’s dream and emerging as a symbol of her country’s revolutionary assent to roles for women outside the home.

That was also when her life began to unravel. “This was my dream job,” the Afghan Air Force captain said. “I never thought I would want to quit.”

Now 23 years old, Capt. Rahmani faces death threats from both the Taliban and members of her extended family for daring to work in the male-dominated world of military aviation. Her parents and siblings also fear for their lives, and the family of eight lives in hiding, their comfortable middle-class life lost.

Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday and gave all Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the kingdom, as escalating tensions over the execution of an outspoken Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia marked a new low in relations between the two Middle Eastern powers.

The surprise move, announced in a televised news conference by Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, followed harsh criticism by Iranian leaders of the Saudis’ execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and the storming of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran by protesters in response.

Mr. Jubeir said that the kingdom would not allow Iran to undermine its security.

The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Saturday that Saudi Arabia would face divine vengeance for the execution of Sheikh Nimr, a day after protesters ransacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. Saudi Arabia, which put the cleric to death in a mass execution Saturday of 47 men accused of terrorism-related offenses, fired back, saying Iran had “revealed its true face represented in support for terrorism.”

Moliere wrote:Saudi Arabia Cuts Ties With Iran Amid Fallout From Cleric’s Execution

Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday and gave all Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the kingdom, as escalating tensions over the execution of an outspoken Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia marked a new low in relations between the two Middle Eastern powers.

The surprise move, announced in a televised news conference by Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, followed harsh criticism by Iranian leaders of the Saudis’ execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and the storming of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran by protesters in response.

Mr. Jubeir said that the kingdom would not allow Iran to undermine its security.

The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Saturday that Saudi Arabia would face divine vengeance for the execution of Sheikh Nimr, a day after protesters ransacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. Saudi Arabia, which put the cleric to death in a mass execution Saturday of 47 men accused of terrorism-related offenses, fired back, saying Iran had “revealed its true face represented in support for terrorism.”