It would be nice to have some sort of informing description of a topic, rather than just a link.
The Yazidi/Yezidi are one of many ethnic-religious groups that are presntly (and previously) caught up in a very lengthy battlefront that runs from Afghanistan to Iraq to Syria to Israel/Palestine to Egypt to Sudan to Somalia to Nigeria to Libya and all points in between and at the ends and fringes including China and Central Africa. The common denominator is radical Islam.
Your link is noted, and it is fair game here as Crowley once (once 😮 - maybe more than once, but not much more) mentioned some obscure refernce to them in relation to demon-god Aiwass. But let's face it, there's a tonne of ethno-relidious groups who are eating the dust. And guess what? The aggressors are making noises about moving in on England while destroying the Great Satan USA.
One solution would be for the industrial nations to stop supplying armaments to these mindless extremists. A culture that does not have the capacity to manufacture its own guns and rockets should NOT be sold or given such items, for profit or politics, because in the long run, the fanatica are going to run around in a big circle and bite the suppliers in the behind. It would be better if they were restricted to their native scimitars and daggers and all suppliers were locked up. Who makes supply possible? Trouble-making Russia, sneaky Saudi Arabia, aggressive Iran, mentally-deficient North Korea - I've even heard communist China. So now Russia and China both have Islamic rebels.
They're out to take over the world, while converting or killing everyone. The modern version allows one to pay a tax instead of getting converted or killed - the system is already corrupt. The Yezidi are simply the group which is now getting its 15-minutes of flame, er, fame 😉
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What about the Chaldeans? They're getting slaughtered too.
indeed, it is saddening that ISIS is threatening the Yezidi. One hopes that ISIS will not advance as far as Lalish, as their behaviour up to this point with regard to other's religious monuments is not heartening. We have a large Yezidi community here in Germany and my wife was in Iraq not too long ago filming the annual pilgrimage to the tomb of Sheik Adi. She found the Yezidi friendly and welcoming, if somewhat cautious due to the centuries of persecution.
Daily Telegraph article - 'Death of a Religion: ISIS and the Yezidi':
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/seanthomas/100282674/death-of-a-religion-isis-and-the-yezidi
http://www.lashtal.com/forum/http://www.lashtal.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5
All very sad, and of all the names to use for an extremist Islamic group... ISIS! Sheesh! >:(
:-
93
Hamal
UPDATE Aug 7, 2014 ev: "Meanwhile, the UN says some of the 50,000 members of the Yazidi religious minority trapped by IS on Mount Sinjar have been rescued."
see: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28686998
Oh, that was a while ago. ISIS has now been changed to plain olde IS (Islamic State) because these lunatical aggressors are claiming a new country (stolen from parts of Iraq & Syria).
The big problem here is that in WW1, WW2 & Korea it was us vs them. Starting with Vietnam (and continuing into today's Islamic uprising), the aggressors hide among (and launch attacks from) a civilian population - so it becomes difficult (impossible?) to distinguish the bad guys from the neutrals. Thus a lot of civilians get killed or injured and the world news cries out against the defenders who are usually just enacting some form of self defense.
What a mess,eh? Ne sure to keep Ch 3 of AL handy in case this epidemic comes into a neighborhood near you.
Daily Telegraph follow-up article - 'Who are the Yazidis? Profile of Iraq's misunderstood 'devil worshippers':
actually the 'lunatical aggressors' are simply erasing a border established by the English and the French in a secret agreement after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sykes–Picot_Agreement
another bitter legacy of colonization here, as in India & Pakistan and Israel & Palestine. Who would have suspected that establishing borders by fiat - without the consent of the local residents would ever lead to problems down the line? After all, humans are so very talented at resolving contentious issues without resorting to violence.
Now to divide up California into those six different states…
oops, looks like the link broke
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement
though he is probably somehow involved as well
it seems the US is organizing airdrops of water & MREs for those stranded on the mountain and will strike IS from the air if they move towards Arbil (what that means for Lalish, which lies in another direction, is unclear)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/08/07/president-obama-makes-statement-iraq
i suppose IS will not be surprised by "The Great Satan" coming to the aid of the "Devil Worshippers".
I would like to rebut the oxymoron comment of WilliamThirteen, as it is America which is making an effort to relieve this state of affairs. An American Thinker is an oxymoron
like a German Pacifist.
though that was another thread, let me state for the record.… it was only a joke! There are many fine American thinkers, John Rawls & Richard Feynman to name just two. German Pacifists, well… that is a longer discussion.…
I knew you were playing Devil's Advocate, WilliamThirteen 😉
Huh 😮
Bigot amongst us 😉
At vice.com they have posted the first two (of five) parts of their documentary "The Islamic State."
I guess all these troubles, and the Mideast's troubles generally, go back to the breakup of the Ottoman Empire and the Ottoman Caliphate.
yes, saw those this morning. i found it interesting how many of the young men seemed to suffer feelings of personal and historical humiliation which gave rise to the urge to revenge themselves on their perceived enemies.
Unless I'm mistaken, these "troubles" (i.e., power struggles) go back to where the Shias believed that the Islamic succession of power should rest with the lineal descenants of the prophet Mohammed, while the Sunnis believed that the power should rest with the Caliphs (of Egypt). I really don't know when this split first took place, but it lies at the heart of the middle-east, and it's an old, old rivalry.
To this antagonism, we need to toss in the European (primarily French) invasion of the "Holy Land," known as crusades, and then there's also the bad manners between the Israelis (Hebrews) and the Palestinians (Philistines) that have been recorded in that Biblical tract. Mix it all together, add oil revenues and a pinch of stupid foreigners supplying modern weapons, and simmer overnight in a melting pot, er, explosive plot.
I know, just thought I should defend all of us ignorant Americans. John Rawls, I just found out about while reading "Ethics for Dummies", apparently his colleagues at Harvard found him shy and he stammered. I would put Jack Parsons in the category of great American Thinker; though many of the highest level Thelemites may not agree. Of course he was no Thomas Hobbes, but his concept of starting a 'new religion' was co-opted by Hubbard and proved valid.
Humanity needs a new religion.
Perhaps we would all be better off if "religion" of any sort was simply banned ::)
LATEST UPDATE - Things get Worse (Again)[/align:3rdfpc22]
Iraq: Militants Killed 500 Yazidis, Buried Some Alive
" The Islamic State's assault on the Yazidi minority community is every bit as horrific as might be expected, with Iraq's human rights minister telling Reuters today that the militant group has killed at least 500 Yazidis—and buried some of those alive."
(^) http://www.newser.com/story/192250/iraq-militants-killed-500-yazidis-buried-some-alive.html
The Next Target of ISIS: Western Nations?
CNN looks at possible ways the extremist group might attack
" In the wake of two US airstrikes against ISIS, supporters of the extremist group that's been seizing towns in northern Iraq are calling for retaliatory strikes against America, CNN reports. "It is a clear message that the war is against Islam and the mujahideen," wrote the administrator of an online ISIS forum. "The mujahideen must strive and seek to execute proactive operations ... to discipline America and its criminal soldiers."
(^) http://www.newser.com/story/192235/the-next-target-of-isis-western-nations.html
It is disheartening and simultaneously humorous to know that the whole destabilization of the region is due in large part to the work and brain(less)-child of Paul Wolfowitz. Clearly the entire plan in Iraq was to play an apocalyptic end-game coupled with the expectations that the Shia would embrace democracy. Wolfwits' error was embracing good old fashioned Baconian inductive logic, and to Washington's dismay the Shiites didn't buy into the regime du jour. And the greatest irony is that the Xtians of Iraq have all had to go underground in fear for their lives since day one of the invasion practically. Now anyone at odds with fundamentalist Islam is in dire straights. The same old problem with invasive species up and down the biospherical and ideological food chain evinced once again. What they need is some sandworms shipped in from Arakis to take their mind off imposing another violent theocracy. Unfortunately, the old addage about reality growing out of the end of a loaded shotgun barrel seems to be the only imminent one given any credence here.
Unless I'm mistaken, these "troubles" (i.e., power struggles) go back to where the Shias believed that the Islamic succession of power should rest with the lineal descenants of the prophet Mohammed, while the Sunnis believed that the power should rest with the Caliphs (of Egypt). I really don't know when this split first took place, but it lies at the heart of the middle-east, and it's an old, old rivalry.
To this antagonism, we need to toss in the European (primarily French) invasion of the "Holy Land," known as crusades, and then there's also the bad manners between the Israelis (Hebrews) and the Palestinians (Philistines) that have been recorded in that Biblical tract. Mix it all together, add oil revenues and a pinch of stupid foreigners supplying modern weapons, and simmer overnight in a melting pot, er, explosive plot.
Those factors are all significant, but I think the breakup of the Ottoman regime was the modern catalyst for the chaotic conditions that have since prevailed. The Ottoman Empire was by far the largest and most important Islamic state. The Ottoman Caliphate had for centuries been the central spiritual authority of Islam. These institutions, albeit having problems and weaknesses, maintained a sense of coherence and order in the Muslim world.
When they were abolished, Turkey became a much more secular country. The ex-Ottoman possessions (on today's maps Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Kuwait, and parts of Saudi Arabia) came under the colonial control of Britain and France. A huge religious and cultural vacuum was created. The fires of anti-Western resentment began to get stoked.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict also picked up steam with Balfour and the idea of having a Jewish state in Palestine. Traditionally -- for centuries -- Jews and Muslims had cordial relations there. This plan could never have been feasible under Ottoman rule.
More recently, the USA has been the big intervener in the area, due at first to the Cold War and then to its alliance with Israel and to oil.
Hard to say how things would have gone if the Empire and Caliphate had gone on, but chances are the conditions and developments would have taken a different course. (For starters, the Ottoman Empire would have become a very wealthy oil country.)
There are pro IS groups springing up all over e.g. Wakefield in the UK and Holland.
"... some 20,000 of the Yazidis trapped on a mountain by fighting have managed to escape as the effects of American airstrikes on ISIS militants became apparent. Kurdish fighters supported by American drones and fighter jets went on the offensive against the militants and managed to recapture two towns, the New York Times reports."
And the saga continus ...
"Another 130 Marines and special operations forces have been sent to Iraq to help rescue tens of thousands of Yazidi refugees still trapped on a mountain, but this "is not a combat boots on the ground kind of operation," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says. Speaking at California's Camp Pendleton, he described the extra American troops now in the northern city of Irbil as "assessment team members" who will assist the effort to help members of the Yazidi minority threatened by Islamic State extremists."
You know things are getting serious when they send in the "assessment team members".
I am still reading conflicting reports as to whether Lalish has come under attack from IS.
The latest American assessment of the Sinjar situation is that things are not quite as bad as they thought, and that any problematical rescue mission has been put on hold - according to what I heard on BBC Radio 4 News at 8.00am this morning. Depends on one's definition of 'bad', I suppose.
Have to say, William, that you appear to be reflecting our specialist occult interests in Yezidi welfare with your preoccupation in concerns for the sacred shrine of Lalish. Way things are going, talk of taking in Yezidi refugees and so forth, there won't be many Yezidis left in Kurdistan. Of course, if the Islamic State fanatics capture the place they will destroy it.
Instead of having British government ministers being vague about the value of recent RAF Tornadoe surveillance of the area, we ought to be working on the most efficient way of blasting the IS madmen back to the dark ages where their attitude to human life belongs.
i would counter that the Yezidis themselves may have even more of a 'preoccupation' with Lalish than i as many fled to Lalish and the surrounding areas once Sinjar was overrun. The annual pilgrimage and festival in Lalish is central to Yezidi identity, so destroying the site would be catastrophic to Yezidi culture.
Otherwise i concur with your thoughts on the use of the RAF.
[flash=560,315:g1hwqal9] https://www.youtube.com/v/UKQBqUtNvlk [/flash:g1hwqal9]
Right! As long as they hide amongst the civilian population, like they're doing in most of the troubled other countries, that's a problem that really needs solving. Somehow they seem to have captured oil sources and are selling it and making big bucks in order to buy more weapons and support themselves. The questions are, who is buying that oil (if this is so), and who is selling weapons and other support?
I'm not onsite and really don't know what I'm (theoretically) talking about - I'm just playing Armchair CIA, but I do agree with your basic assertation.
"Fears are growing for the 300 Yazidi women reportedly kidnapped by Islamic State fighters last week amid claims they may used to bear children to break up the ancient sect's bloodline."
Otherwise i concur with your thoughts on the use of the RAF.
[flash=560,315:3u6o4m58] https://www.youtube.com/v/UKQBqUtNvlk [/flash:3u6o4m58]
Point taken, William. Its a rather different situation to the one that Thelemites find themselves in. Our sacred shrine at Boleskine is off bounds in private hands, but is quite structurally secure. The other one at Cefalu is crumbling into desecrated ruin due to bad press and a lack of focused interest; but we can happily get along with Thelema without them. Clearly the loss of Lalish would have a vastly more devastating effect on Yezidi culture.
“It’s well known that they pray to Satan. Apart from that they seem to be nice people.”
“It’s well known that they pray to Satan. Apart from that they seem to be nice people.”
Interesting article. Theirs is a fascinating faith, I must read more about it when I have a little more time.
😀
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Hamal