Hear, hear...........

Why do so many people in the world show such disregard for Arab/Muslim sentiments?

A big "No, No" in my mind.

Then you're not going to like what I have to say, Mike. Is the Muslim faith any better or more important than any other? Is Islam the One True Faith? No, of course it isn't. Charlie Hebdo is an equal opportunity satirist that poked fun at all religions. It regularly puiblished cartoons and articles that lampooned the Pope and catholic cardinals just as it poked fun at the Prophet and Imams and every other religion. But Charlie Hebdos' offices have never been stormed by Kalashnikov-toting Catholics, Buddists or Jews.

Why should Muslims be treated any differently to any other religious grouping? The majority of them - like the majority of the public at large - are peaceful and peace-loving people who just want to live their lives in harmony with others. But there is a minority of Muslims who have become radicalised by so-called clerics who have hijacked the Muslim faith for their own twisted ends. Nowhere in the Qu'ran does it say that non-believers should be murdered but that is exactly what people like Abu Qatada preach. Mizanur Rahman, a cleric at Palmers Green Mosque in London, has praised those who carried out the attacks in Paris and added that "Britain is the enemy of Islam". He should be immediately arrested, deported back to Pakistan and black-listed. No ifs, no buts, let him lodge any appeal from Pakistan. And exactly the same should befall any other cleric who supports terrorism. But that will never happen because he make some assertion such that he'll be protected by the Human Rights Act - this piece of EU legislation need to be repealed; Magna Carta is the original HRA and has served us well for the last 800 years.

Unfortunately your view will find favour amongst the power-hungry in Westminster and I can almost "see" Mrs May salivating at the thought of introducing more restrictions to curb our freedoms and all in the name of "national security". That's what you get for appeasing terrorists.

Je Suis Charlie.

Mark,

The reaction to these perceived insults by the Muslim world brings about retaliation that will not abate.
It is a sad state of affairs that many people do not see what happens and what will happen to people who insult their faith.
I am not interested in any faith or religion but cannot for the life of me understand why people are shocked when retaliation is metered out.

Whether we like it or not, the Muslim faith does not work like anything else, so if we don't understand this we will continue to see atrocities.
It is easy to say they are barbaric or backward but it is as it is and it would be better to arrange a suitable forum (not in an online one such as this) for grievances to be aired, understood and for solutions to be found.

I am afraid that your solutions would only add to the threat of reprisals and are not going to help innocents from being killed.

It would help to try to understand a little more:

http://www.aljazeera.com/focus/2010/08/20108213643408629.html

And.......

France divided despite uplifting rallies
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30769192

What has been happening for a long time is that it is no longer a question of "us" and "them" because the "us and them" live side by side in many countries, ours included. In the same towns, villages, streets and sometimes in the same houses.
Talk of "appeasing terrorists" is so wide of the mark.
If we are to stop terrible things happening in our own back yards we must instigate change globally.

From the BBC article above :
"All of which only goes to prove that there are many French men and women who feel their primary attachment is to Islam, not to the Enlightenment values of post-18th Century Europe.

They feel a constant sense of humiliation, and where they can, they strike back. Normally in petty acts of insubordination. But sometimes in terror. "

The same applies to the U.K.

Thing is, Mike, these Islamists - by which I mean those who have hijacked the Muslim religion for their own purposes - want it all ways. They want you to abide by their rules when visiting or living in a Muslim country - which is fair enough - but they also want you to abide by their rules when they live in your country. Nevertheless the overwhelming majority of Muslims do abide by our laws, respect our customs and live among us in total peace and harmony.

Some become model citizens. Case in point: Lassana Bathily, a Muslim of Malian origin, is the brave young man who worked at the Kosher supermarket in Paris and led a group of shoppers, including this family, to the large walk-in freezers where he hid them. He then slipped away using a goods lift and provided the Police with a wealth of information about the assailants and the number and whereabouts of the hostages.



The two groups of Islamists who carried out the atrocities at Charlie Hebdo's offices, the slaying of a police woman and the hostage-taking at the Jewish supermarket all knew each other and had something else in common: contact with and encouragement from the preachers of hate in the UK - the north London Mosques in particular. And for that our politicians must be blamed and held accountable, especially that war criminal Blair. It is their mealy-mouthed liberal (with a small 'l') policies that have got us into this mess. According to reports I've read, Al Qaeda and IS have singled-out Britain - and Britons - as a important target and it is only a matter of time before Britain witnesses atrocities a whole lot worse than what happened in Paris last week. It is "when" not "if". The Government must give the Police and security services emergency powers to arrest these hate-preaching clerics and if British-born, incarcerate, otherwise strip them of their British citizenship (if any) and deport them without delay. And other European governments, such as the Dutch, Danes, French and Germans should do the same. Furthermore, the Muslim population as a whole must do more to counter extremism - a view that is held by Britain's Culture Secretary, Sajid Javid, who is himself a Muslim.

These terrorists are hardline fanatics for whom death is welcomed. Our response must be equally hardline.

There were some forty of the world's leaders at yesterday's massive demonstration and march in Paris. Not one of them was American, neither Obama nor Biden could be bothered to attend - despite Obama stating in a speech on Friday "I want the people of France to know that the United States stands with you today, stands with you tomorrow." Except that he wasn't. Of far greater importance was the screening of a NFL match that afternoon which kept Obama entertained.

The US did send its Attorney General, Eric Holder, to Paris for the top-level diplomatic talks that took place before the march but when those talks broke-up, Holder slipped away and made the rounds of the TV studios giving interviews for American breakfast TV shows. How shallow and vacuous.

At an event where the President of the Ukraine linked arms with the Russian Foreign Affairs minister and the Presidents of Israel and Palestine put aside their differences and also linked arms, Americans should be thoroughly ashamed by the absence of their elected leader.

The big problem we have, as I see it, is this.

We, in this country, work on the basis of freedom of speech. Therefore that must apply to everyone equally. In fact, it is this right to freedom of speech that we are trying to protect.

This causes a problem with these people. Because, until they do something, All they seem to be guilty of is having an opinion. And, once they emerge, they either kill themselves, get killed by the authorities, or are quickly arrested and off the streets.

So, the peole we seek, are no longer there to be looked for. So, we can only look for people who have an opinion. Which is not illegal.

So they will be guilty of nothing until they, themselves, emerge, wipe out a load of people (possibly here in the UK again at some point) and are quickly either dead or in jail.

It would be great if we could just wipe out all these obnoxious individuals in one, fell swoop. But it's not as simple as that as they are guilty of nothing until they do something. And this is what makes them even more dangerous.

Meanwhile, in the real world...

Al Qaeda. ISIL and Boko Haram continues to commit attrocities.

10th January - Boko Haram Islamists strap explosives to a 10 year old girl and blow her up in a crowded Borno state market.
At least 16 people killed.

11th January - Boko Haram Islamists strap explosives to another little girl and blow her up in a crowded market in Potiskum.
3 killed, 26 wounded.

Guardian article

I don't think that such sick animals would agree to discuss their grievances in a real world forum.
.

You are right to indicate that defeating an ideology is very hard, Graham.
Rather than "wiping out" something that you cannot always see, how do you propose a solution?

What are your ideas for a solution too, Dave_E ?

It is so easy to quote newspaper/media articles.
Much harder to think of finding a solution.
Stopping suicide bombers is very hard to do.

France is to deploy 10,000 troops to boost security and thousands of police to protect Jewish schools.
Now there's a big pointer right there.

The hawks are doing really well.

As the OP, Aromulus, what are your ideas on how to stop these problems?

I think anyone who is suspected of being a terrorist should be imprisoned until such time they are deemed to be no longer a threat to the public.

In France, the UK and other countries, suspected terrorist have been allowed to roam the streets until such time they commit their atrocities. The four people responsible for the shootings in France last week were on the police radar as were the two terrorist who slaughtered Lee Rigby on the streets of London last year. They should be presumed guilty until they can prove their innocence.

Reasoning with these brainwashed Islamist is not possible.

I seem to recall reading that the people responsible for the terrorist attrocity in France last week were on both the UK and the US no-fly lists.

(edit) So yes, why were they allowed to roam the streets.

Problem is, that goes against everything we are trying to defend.

If you apply that to some people, you have to apply it to everyone. So the law becomes guilty until proven innocent.

And how can you arrest someone who has done nothing. All you can do is watch them.

That's why it is so difficult.

So what are your thoughts on a solution?

Thoughts on a solution?

Come on people, instead of always moaning, lets turn our heads to a solution.
Surely we could civilly try to formulate a list of things that we think could be done to stop more bloodshed?

I will start the ball rolling....we can refine as we go along

AGENDA

1) Give the land/houses in the occupied territories back to the Palestinians
2) Hold a forum in a neutral territory and allow all to participate, Nato, Arab States, Israelis and the UN
3) Likewise an African forum
4) Curb ISIL, Al Queda and Boko Haram - Sau'di to get Imams to act strongly
5) More freedom to Palestinians in Palestine.
6) Jewish lobby in USA to stop pressuring US government in UN causing vetos being used
7) US Entertainment industry to stop bias in favour of Jews and against Muslims.
8) Likewise an Asian forum
9) UN meeting to discuss worldwide issues and growing threats.