A Willow Ptarmigan perfectly camuflaged

Tree swallows

What would you tell Vincent van Gogh about ‘The white orchard’?

#OnThisDay in 1888 Van Gogh wrote: “In this white effect there’s a lot of yellow with blue and lilac, the sky is white and blue. But as for the execution of what we do out of doors like this, what will they say?”

What would you say to Vincent about ‘The White Orchard’?

Image: http://bit.ly/The-White-Orchard
Full letter: http://bit.ly/Letter-595

Drăguş, Țara Făgăraşului

Watch “J.Brahms. Selected works from Op. 10, 76, 116, 117, 118, 119 Valentina Lisitsa” on YouTube

My Duck engraving today

My pot with flowers Engraving no.1

My pot with flowers Engraving Today no.2

Modern ballet

At the River’s edge engraving

My birds on the wire engraving today

My Chakra engraving today

Dr. Sebastian Gorka

Dr. Sebastian Gorka: We Will Lose a ‘Winnable’ War Against Jihad If We Refuse to ‘Talk About the Enemy as They Are’
AFP
by JOHN HAYWARD
11 Apr 2016
0
Breitbart News National Security Editor Dr. Sebastian Gorka, author of Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War, appeared on Breitbart News Sunday to answer host Stephen K. Bannon’s challenge that, contrary to the title, his book doesn’t make the war against jihad sound very “winnable” at all.

Gorka said he was motivated to write the book because he has seen “sixteen years of right-wing Administrations and left-wing Administrations punt the ball, or completely drop the ball, on this war.”

“But we can win it, if we have the leadership,” he contended, saying his book contains “the recipe to win this war rapidly.”

Gorka argued that the “history of modern jihad” began in 1979. “If you want to understand September the 11th, if you want to understand the Boston bombing, the Ft. Hood massacre, the recent massacre in San Bernardino, the recent attack in Brussels, it all begins in 1979,” he said.

“It begins with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan that triggers the first organization that predates al-Qaeda, which was the Arab Services Bureau, the mujahadeen. That’s where al-Qaeda begins in 1979. Then we have the Iranian revolution, hugely important because we have one nation-state that says Islam can be re-integrated into politics. It’s the Shia, yes, but this is a model for all Muslims: we can create theocracies, and be successful, and reject the Western model of politics,” Gorka continued.

He added a third highly significant event from that era, which most Americans haven’t heard of: “Three hundred jihadis, in 1979, armed with automatic weapons, sieged and captured the most important site in all of Islam, the Grand Mosque at Mecca. And it is the consequences of that siege, in which the Saudi regime signed a pact with the devil, if you will, with the extremist fundamentalist clerics in Saudi Arabia — that’s where it all begins.”

The understanding between the Saudi regime and jihadis had the effect of turning both violent terrorism and Islamist ideology outward, buying peace for the Saudis at the rest of the world’s expense. As Bannon noted, the siege was also a huge media event across the Muslim world, giving the radicals who captured the Grand Mosque a platform to express their beliefs and win converts.

Gorka proposed two reasons why the Western media has never assigned the proper historical significance to the siege of Mecca: it’s too complicated to explain for a mainstream press interested primarily in quick sound bites, and it reflects poorly on America’s nominal ally, Saudi Arabia.

“We made a strategic decision after World War II that Saudi Arabia would be our partner, would be our so-called ally, so we don’t want to talk about the fact that Saudi Arabia is, in part, responsible for the export of the most totalitarian ideology active today, which is global jihadism,” he said.

“During the siege, the King managed to identify the fact that these aren’t just a bunch of Koran-beating yahoos. These 300 jihadis had the blessing, had the support, of key members of the Saudi clerical class, the ulamaa, the wise theologians – who said, ‘yep, Islam’s lost its way, we’re surrounded by apostates, the King is a puppet of the West, and we need a holy war to cleanse Islam,’” Gorka explained. “When the King found that out, he invited these clerics to the palace for a little chat, and he said to them, ‘Gentlemen, I know who you are, and I know your connection to these jihadis. Let me offer you a deal. If you guarantee for me that my nation — my country, Saudi Arabia, and my family — will never, ever be threatened again by this kind of extremist violence, this jihadism, you will become the court ulamaa. You will become the clerics to the House of Saud. You, your sons, and your grandsons will have jobs for life.’”

Crucially, the Saudi monarchy also offered the help finance the export of jihad ideology around the world, “and for the last 25 years, we have been paying the price for that deal,” Gorka said, counting among those toxic imports Salafism, Wahabbi Islam, and the Deobandi sect, which is far more influential in European and American mosques than most outsiders realize.

Gorka said it was crucial for Western leaders to “jettison this fantasy that you hear all the time, after 9/11, that Islam needs a ‘Reformation.’” As he explained, the Christian Reformation was driven by the urge to “get back to basics,” such as studying the Bible and developing a fundamental understanding of the faith. That is precisely the message of the Islamic “extremists” and jihadis of today. In their eyes, they are the Reformation.

The “dirty little secret that nobody wants to tell you,” as Gorka put it, is that the Islamist ideology of al-Qaeda or ISIS “is not fundamentally un-Islamic because it is the Seventh Century interpretation of Islam that comes straight from the Koran.”

“The second half of the Koran is uber-violent. It’s about killing infidels,” he explained. “As a result, we don’t need more reformation to get back to basics because then we will empower the jihadis.”

In order to cut through political correctness and Washington static, Gorka had a provocative request for listeners: “Every American citizen who cares about the republic, after 9/11, you don’t have an excuse. Buy a Koran. Don’t listen to the conventional wisdoms that are being spewed out by the mainstream media. Go to the primary source, and make a judgment for yourself about this religion.”

He also stressed the importance of understanding that, unlike the Bible and most other religious texts, the Koran is meant to be the unchallengeable word of God, dictated to Mohammed by the archangel Gabriel, rather than a series of stories and prophetic revelations that might be subject to reinterpretation by later authorities. Gorka suggested it might be helpful to think of the entire Koran as if it were the Ten Commandments — except, of course, that the Koran is much more comprehensive, detailed, and particular than the rather terse Commandments.

In a similar vein, he challenged the common talking point that “jihad” refers to constructive, non-violent internal struggles against temptation by noting that on “twelve times as many occasions in the Koran, when the word ‘jihad’ is used, it’s not about peaceful inner striving,” but instead describes “martial war, kinetic war, defeating and suppressing the enemy until they convert to the One True Faith, or until you have successfully destroyed them.”

He noted that jihad is certainly understood that way by terrorists and Islamist leaders, such as ISIS, which waged an aggressive war of conquest to re-establish the Islamic “caliphate” abolished by Turkish leader Kemal Ataturk a century ago.

“The Islamic State now holds territory in multiple countries of the Middle East and Africa,” Gorka observed. “This is stunning. They hold territory in Iraq, in Libya, in Syria, and now Boko Haram has become part of the caliphate, which means anything that belongs to Boko Haram in Nigeria is part of the new caliphate. That means we have more than six million people living on the territory of the new Islamic empire.” He further noted that empire boasts some 76,000 fighters, many of them foreign recruits, and is making between $2 million and $4 million per day, with income streams ranging from banditry to legal taxation.

In Gorka’s estimation, the refusal of Western political leaders to understand the unique nature of Islam, and the significance of such historic events as the Grand Mosque siege, lies at the heart of the leadership vacuum that might cause us to lose the war against jihad, despite our enormous military, technological, and economic advantages.

For example, Western leaders have deliberately blinded themselves to the penetration of Western mosques by radical imams, refusing to ask critical questions about where immigrant clerics were educated. Gorka said the Obama Administration is also politically aligned against one of the few successful examples of de-radicalization in the Middle East, the “coup” conducted against the Muslim Brotherhood by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Egypt.

“We have to support those regimes, whether it’s Egypt or whether it’s King Abdullah in Jordan, who have a different understanding of Islam and modernity,” Gorka urged. “We need more people like Ataturk — people who say, ‘Look, I’m the democratically elected head of this country, and I don’t care what the Koran says about killing infidels right now. We don’t do that because we like America, we like the West, and I’m going to tell you what Islam is.’ The State Department doesn’t like to hear that because they want to have freedom of religion, but if you’re dealing with Islam that has a Seventh Century original version that is violent, we cannot do that.”

The Department of Homeland Security doesn’t like to hear that, either. Gorka related an astonishing story of being approached by a DHS official, after he delivered an eight-hour presentation on jihad to law-enforcement officials, who told him the real threat facing America was not Islamist terror but “right-wing extremists” and offered the 21-year-old Oklahoma City bombing as evidence of this imminent threat.

“I doubt the average law-enforcement officer, or American taxpayer, would agree with the government line in Washington,” he observed.

Gorka compared that government line on Islamism to the authorities informing American troops to avoid potentially offensive terms like “Nazi” as they were preparing to storm the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, or the authorities in the Fifties telling law enforcement to avoid terms like “white supremacist” when dealing with the Ku Klux Klan because they were really just “misguided Democrats.”

“Today we can’t use the world ‘jihad.’ We can’t

Secta zeloţilor – primii terorişti din istorie? | Historia

http://www.historia.ro/exclusiv_web/general/articol/secta-zelotilor-primii-teroristi-istorie

Cum au încercat comuniştii să „falsifice” rămăşiţele pământeşti ale lui Iuliu Maniu. Trupul marelui om politic nu a fost găsit niciodată după moarte | Historia

http://www.historia.ro/exclusiv_web/general/articol/cum-au-incercat-comunistii-sa-falsifice-ramasitele-pamantesti-ale-lui

German intelligence services admit that they were wrong on ISIS “has instilled among people REFUGEES” | Over a thousand terrorists entered Europe manageable | Nasul.tv

http://www.nasul.tv/serviciile-secrete-din-germania-recunosc-ca-s-au-inselat-in-privinta-isis-si-a-infiltrat-oamenii-printre-refugiati-peste-o-mie-de-posbili-teroristi-au-patruns-in-europa/

Scientists Unveil New Tree of Life

Wilderness

Meet the Panama Papers Editor Who Handled 376 Reporters in 80 Countries – ProPublica

https://www.propublica.org/podcast/item/Meet-the-Panama-Papers-Editor-Who-Handled-376-Reporters-in-80-Countries?utm_campaign=sprout&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=1460412248

Yellow Badger. Arikara.

Photo by Zalmon Gilbe Yellow Badger. Arikara. ca. 1880. rt. Source – Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

The colors in this photo are…magnificent

One word for this photo please…

Saline Valley Sunrise

Nimic durabil nu se poate întemeia pe indiferență. Octavian Paler.

Chief Crow Dog, Sicangu Lakota.

Chief Crow Dog, Sicangu Lakota. Crow Dog was a great spiritual man that comes from a long line of holy men! He vociferously opposed U.S. Army occupation of South Dakota Indian reservations & the continuous stealing of Lakota lands. He was one of the last holdouts after the massacre of Big Foot’s people at Wounded Knee (December 1890). Crow Dog was a Noble Chief who always put the People first!!!

Vas cu flori, Nicolae Grant

Vas cu flori, Nicolae Grant

The Cavalier Daily – :: CROSS: Virginia is the new Flint

http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2016/04/cross-virginia-new-flint

This is a great editorial/opinion piece that really spells it out… just how corruption in business and state government threatens Virginia’s water too.

Better yet, how corruption in business and state government threatens our water resources everywhere!

Pictură: Andre Kohn

„Compasiunea este principala, poate chiar unica lege a existenţei pentru întreaga umanitate.”
(F. M. Dostoievski, în „Idiotul”)

Pictură: Andre Kohn

German intelligence services admit that they were wrong on ISIS “has instilled among people REFUGEES” | Over a thousand terrorists entered Europe manageable | Nasul.tv

http://www.nasul.tv/serviciile-secrete-din-germania-recunosc-ca-s-au-inselat-in-privinta-isis-si-a-infiltrat-oamenii-printre-refugiati-peste-o-mie-de-posbili-teroristi-au-patruns-in-europa/

France 24 : The irony of Paul Klee explored at Paris retrospective

The irony of Paul Klee explored at Paris retrospective

http://f24.my/1SIZ3Ew

Taliban: Rocket strikes meant for Kerry

Taliban: Rocket strikes meant for Kerry
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/10/politics/kerry-afghanistan-taliban-rockets/index.html

BBC News: Erdogan poem: Turkey demands German action over ‘obscene’ satirist

Erdogan poem: Turkey demands German action over ‘obscene’ satirist – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36013191

BBC News: Russian S-300 air defence missiles ‘arrive in Iran’

Russian S-300 air defence missiles ‘arrive in Iran’ – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36013847

BBC News: President Obama: Libya aftermath ‘worst mistake’ of presidency

President Obama: Libya aftermath ‘worst mistake’ of presidency – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36013703

Pregătiri de masă, Nicolae Tonitza

Sighișoara, România

Exotic brilliance – Bleu and Gold Macaw

Exotic Brilliance – Blue and Gold Macaw, 9in x 12in, opaque and transparent watercolor on board, ©Rebecca Latham Hope you enjoy! ..share if you like. #art #painting #miniatureart #watercolor #realism #wildlifeart #wildlife #artoftheday #handpainted

Watch “Indonézia legszebb fotói – Herman Damar és Rarindra Prakarsa Photography csodálatos fotói” on YouTube

Dome of the most lively photographs!

Vaca ăl negrul (drigană or water bufallo)

Shelter from the rain

Sanwapta Falls, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

În ziua de azi nesimțirea a devenit o calitate iar bunul simț un defect!

Flori de cireș, Eustatiu Stoenescu

Happy Monday

Eroii care au căzut de pe piedestale…nu pot opri lumea de la muncă…

În natură, Nicolae Vermont

At Disneyland engraving

Rain, rain go to Spain…

Above the forest engraving

My birds on the wire engraving today