Saudi Money Arming Militants in Region

[Bengal_Tiger]

Dear Bangal Tiger

Your comments are really impressive. You seem to be a realistic person who depict things as these are ,not as these should be from the eye of imagination of an ideologist. I may differ with you in few things which I would like to share with you
1. Although this is a public Pashtun forum but you being Bangali or Bangladeshi is actively participating here so there are some other aspects of PF beyond Pashtun affairs. We have sections on religion, science, education,news, philosophy etc which are not essentially Pashtun affairs. Thus please share whatever you have so that we can learn more. We can use pm for very personal matters but for the general benefit of all please share every thing here.

2. Bangladesh like Pakistan and Afghanistan may have dark aspects which may shared here for suggesting remedies and having thread bare discussions so that we can diagnose and cure. I always point out bad aspects of Pashtunland for sensitization.

3. We may forget the negative past as 1971 and may focus on present and future. Pkaistan may have its problems but this country hosts about 30 millions of Pashtuns and the poor innocent villagers of Punjab have no fault in the bad policies of some Punjabi politicians in past or present. We are all humans and think positively not negatively as a fire in the house of my neighbor can reach y house too.

4. Bangladesh has a past with Pashtuns and is of particular importance to Pashtuns being a south Asian emerging economy. I have heard from a Pakistani friend that many Pakistanis including Pashtuns are now establishing their factories in Bangladesh because of the favorable environment there.

Manana.

Ok, coming to the issue of Saudis.


1. Through out history cynical rulers have used religion to dupe people from the common masses to doing things serving their (rulers) interests.

Saudi regime's first concern is to retain power, but that could be said about anybody including the US which supported military dictators through out the world.

However the US leadership obviously believes to an extent in spreading democracy and western perceptions of human rights (emphasis on western perception), in the same manner the Saudi rulers do have genuine sympathy for Muslims and some of them follow Salafiyaa.

2. Salafiyaa however is cynically used to promote Saudi interests just as Iran uses Shiasm, the Soviets used Marxism-Leninism and the Chinese before used Maoism.

For example the Salafi "Nur" party in Egypt supports the military coup there which - yes surprise, surprise - coincides with the position of the Saudi government.


3. Salafiyaa and fundamentalism has reached the level it has in Pakistan and thus Afghanistan due to Zia. However that only happened because the Americans and their proxies the Saudis wanted religious militants to fight the Soviets and thus weaken/destroy the Soviet empire.

The Americans and British saw throughout the 19th century and other periods that Islamic fighters were very dangerous e.g. Mehdi in Sudan, Shamil in Chechnya, numerous Pashtun rebellions in Afghanistan/Pakhtunkhwa, so they wanted to use this Islamic "zealotry" against their enemies the Soviets.

4. They created this network of Jihadis during the Afghan war and now want to use the Jihadi network/Al-Qaeda (US asset as many people are aware of) to destabilize their rivals e.g. Russia, China and pro-Russian states e.g. Syria.

5. The "problem" for them and their friends the Saudis is that the world is changing.

Saudis need jobs.

Saudis watch Youtube, facebook, twitter.

Saudis travel.

Even 10-20 years ago many people said young Saudis "hated" Islam or what they perceived as strict "Islamic" rules which were too repressive.

Now add social media, increased travel and 150,000 Saudis travelling abroad to study in universities.

When young Saudis travel abroad they face the embarrassment of having to defend themselves. "Oh you're from that country where women can't drive?!...urrgh dude".

They then feel slightly humiliated, defensive and question the Saudi/Salafi system. The naturally secular ones would discard it if they could. Those who are more conservative favour gradual, incremental and undisruptive change.

Saudi is the homeland of Salafiyya, historically and currently in terms of petro-dollars which help to spread this nonsense.

With Salafiyya itself weak in its homeland then Salafiyya abroad becomes weaker.

Communism in the USSR collapsed, and thus did communism in the ex-communist bloc (bar North Korea and Cuba)

Also the Salafis themselves (the non-Jihadi types e.g. Madkhalis) in fact say Salafiyaa is peaceful but scapegoat Egypt as the home of Jihadis e.g. Syed Qutb, Zahawiri and others.

With Ikhwan (the brotherhood) now being defeated in Egypt - Ikhwan is the source of the Egyptian Jihadis as Jihadis were often Ikhwani activists that became even more radicalized due to brutal police torture in prison - "Islamism" faces big problems in the Arab and Muslim world.

The key to defeating "Islamism" is.

1. Respecting Islam the religion and spiritual, personal aspects of it e.g. fast, prayer, hijab, Hajj - all things the Kemalists in Turkey hated, e.g. Ataturk banned Hajj.


2. Whilst respecting it and not provoking believers and making it a "them and us" situation promoting education.

3. Making students from Muslim countries e.g. the future elite e.g. doctors, engineers etc travel to non-Muslim countries.

They realize we live in an inter-connected world where others are human and need to be respected.

4. Economic growth and high HDI.

Women in particular - who are the mothers of the future generation and their first teacher - are obviously resistant and opposed to "Islamism" as it is very misogynistic.

On a slightly separate note some Muslim societies become nationalistic and "Islamism" is ideologically quashed or regarded obsolete or even a threat e.g Bangladeshi/Bengali nationalism whereby the use of Islam by the Pakistani regime made people place more emphasis on their Bengali identity (same phenomenon with ANP Pashtun nationalists) and also the Kurds - who like the Bengalis - feel betrayed by supposedly fellow "Muslim brothers".

In the new Kurdistan, "Islamism" is weak because they have to live in the cold reality of survival.

The Iraqis (Arabs) wiped out around 4,000 Kurdish villages, the Turks wiped out 3,000 Kurdish villages.

People talk about the Israelis but what about the "Muslim" Turks and Arabs and what they did to their "Muslim" brothers, the Kurds.

Though the Kurds are still very religious (Turkish Kurds are more religious than Turks are very prominent in Turkey's Islamic movement) "Islamism" with its unrealistic ideology is not taken seriously by them.


However all I can say is that in addition to ideological struggles there are always greater powers, regional or global who will seek to prevent the progress of certain Muslim societies as they see that progress as a threat to their power.


The opposite threat (in contrast to "Islamism") is atheism and complete rejection of religion and God, and complete abandonment of moral values.