Completely Unrelated, Isolated Islamic Terrorist Events

www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/coup-fears-in-yemen-as-houthis-take-control-in-sanaa

Oh, look, there's another Muslim revolution happening in Yemen. Totally, completely unrelated to anything else happening.

Like the real smart people say "Don't think that conspiracies are actually co-ordinated. It's just a lot of happenstance." Or some such non-sense like that. I heard that many, many times around. Must be true because this really isn't happening.

www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2015/01/gunmen-launch-deadly-assault-libya-hotel-201512712349133363.html

Gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in Libya's capital, killing at least three guards and five foreigners, before blowing themselves up after being surrounded by security, officials said.
The attack, which included the use of a car bomb, struck the popular Corinthia Hotel, which sits along the Mediterranean Sea.
Mahmoud Hamza, commander of the so-called Special Deterrent Force, told private satellite television station al-Nabaa that the situation was "under control'' on Tuesday afternoon.
The incident today sends a message that Tripoli is not secure.
Mary Fitzgerald, journalist


He also said five foreigners were killed, without elaborating, according to a report from the AP news agency.
Issam al-Naass, a spokesman for security services, later told the AFP news agency that the gunmen blew themselves up after being surrounded on an upper floor.
"After being pursued and surrounded on the hotel's 21st floor, the attackers detonated explosive belts they were wearing," Naass said.
Another security official earlier said the gunmen killed three guards and took hostages, but had no further information on the captives' identities. He also said that two commercial landmark towers behind the hotel were evacuated out of security concerns. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to reporters.
According to security sources at the scene, the attack began when four armed men detonated a car bomb in front of the hotel, killing a guard, before rushing inside.
"The incident today sends a message that Tripoli is not secure," journalist Mary Fitzgerald, reporting from Libya, told Al Jazeera.
"This will undermine the message that they are trying to send," she said, referring to the government based in the Libyan capital.
'Reprehensible act'
In a brief statement on Twitter, the Tripoli branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group claimed the attack, the SITE Intelligence monitoring group said.
It was not clear whether any guests remained inside the hotel, which is a major hub for diplomatic and government activity in Tripoli.
"It's an evolving situation, what we're hearing is what is being reported on the news," a spokesman for the Malta-based Corinthia Hotel chain, Matthew Dixon, told AFP by telephone.
"Our thoughts are with our staff and guests," he said. "We have no further information."
EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini expressed concern, calling the attack "another reprehensible act of terrorism which deals a blow to efforts to bring peace and stability to Libya."
She expressed "solidarity with the victims and their families" but provided no details of casualties.
"Such attacks should not be allowed to undermine the political process," Mogherini said in a statement.

10,000 French Trips deployed to protect Paris landmarks and Jews.

Yet what's the big problem? The people who are against the islamitization of France and Europe. LMAO, hey, did you notice there are a bunch of attacks in France by Muslims? Could be the reason? *SMH*

Thats what i read to GBM the data recorder has the co pilot in control and the pilot locked out of the cabin. Pilot is pounding on the door to get in while co pilot send the plane into the ground.

Also read Saudi Arabia invade Yemen with some help from Egypt. The US will offer logistic support to Saudi Arabia. Stock tickers said oil is up a lot in the last 48 hours and will most likely go higher as the scare of no oil looms.

Preface...I've just woken up and am still on my first cup of coffee....

Now I may be wrong (actually, I hope I am wrong), but unless "we" or our regional <ahem> "allies" start using tactics and techniques quite a bit harsher than anyone has used in the last 80 years or so * I think we will see the Caliphate in the M.E. within 10-20 years; if not "this" one then it's next incarnation.
Maybe I'm WAY off base on this. It's not my field, I'm not formally studying this, so my standing may be about the same as a milkman pondering the theory or relativity, but...I live here. I've been living in the region over ten years. I've been in this country since 2007, living on the local economy. What I'm going to say isn't based on studies, just my gut feeling.

The breakdown of the population over here seems to indicate this; 20-30% appear to be either extremist or extremist sympathizers, and anther 30% would roll over and go with the flow (fear+propensity for following whomever appears to be in charge).
That might only be 50%, but 50% is a hell of a large portion of a population to be on the bad guys side if all they need to do is kill the %50 of their neighbors who don't agree with their ideology.
It's the ideology that's the rub. Every time the local governments blast the extremist's ideology, the extremists spin that into an attack on the faith of Islam itself; which gains them a few more followers and sympathizers and unsettles everyone else. Kind of hard for this to not happen; at it's core Islam is about submitting (to G*d, to authority) and submission doesn't line up well with freedoms (Freedom to question, freedom to disagree, freedom to refuse, ect) so any message pushing for freedom can be easily spun as being against the will of Allah. In practice it seems to boil down to whomever has the most restrictive and literal interpretation wins the religious high ground award. When that group was small it wasn't so bad, the average "believer" was still middle of the road, counting on divine forgiveness for their transgressions (occasional booze, sexual dalliances, ect) as there were rarely any real world punishments for these things (while technically illegal in many Muslim nations those transgressions are, if kept moderately discreet, ignored with a wink and a nod. Saudi and Iran being exceptions rather than the norm), but with the possibility of real world punishments for their transgressions they're stuck with the choice (deep down)of obeying the faith in which they were raised along with their families and everyone they know, or of renouncing it (either "officially" or in practice) and becoming apostate. People being people, I'll wager most will go with the herd instinct and just follow along....

TL;DR-
Unless the region makes an (unlikely) change and dumps religion as it's major cultural, social, legal, and political foundation it's almost inevitable that a Caliphate will eventually arise.


*Fake Edit*
Crap....I need to remember I need to consume at least 4 cups of coffee to be coherent.


* Not saying we should become monsters,  but the western world's current trend of waging war with concern about warm and fuzzy feelings and fairness for everyone isn't going to cut it.     If/When this comes it's going to be WAR in big capital letters and if we try to handle it like a giant police raid (as we have our last few conflicts) we'll loose.    If we are to win such a war it will be messy, it will be horrible, and we won't sleep well at night for years afterwards...which is still better than being dead or living under a theocracy.