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How Soviet agitprop methods are used by Islamic extremists

Reader comment on item: Arguing over "Jihad and the Professors"

Submitted by Ken Besig (Israel), Feb 6, 2003 at 14:52

I believe that the longstanding Cold War between the former Soviet Union and the democratic West went a long way towards producing what we now know as Islamic extremism. The Arab Islamic and Third World states in general, exactly like the former Soviet Union, have never been characterized by concern for human rights or political freedom. And for decades the Islamic world remained largely a backwater whose populations were violent, dictatorial, poor, ignorant, and unhealthy, unless the state had oil resources, in which case, they at least weren't poor. But for the most part, except for attacks on Israel, these states pretty much confined themselves to abusing their own people and left the rest of the world alone. Over decades the former Soviet Union worked inside many of these countries, sometimes secretly, sometimes openly, not just establishing political cadres and cultivating political contacts, but also involving themselves in health care systems, educational systems, and in charitable organizations, not of course to improve the politics or the social system but to as much as possible turn these political and social systems into outlets for anti Americanism, anti capitalism, and Soviet style dictatorship, cynicism, hatred, and militarism. They also nurtured the natural imperialism of Islam, which not too surprisingly has it's counterpart in historic Russian imperialism which developed into Soviet imperialism. With the demise of the Soviet Union, the Islamic cadres and politicians they recruited and created no longer see themselves bound by any rules but their own, and unfortunately since Islam is a violent and primitive culture and religion with a serious imperialist component, the rest of the world is now fair game.
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Reader comments (26) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
militant Islam [25 words]Lon BevillJan 23, 2004 19:3013512
Ignorance [79 words]Daeng TinroDec 3, 2003 02:4312426
Beauty (and evil) are often in the eyes of the beholder [251 words]Gary NewmanJul 30, 2003 05:2910320
Perhaps the problem is with weak news reporting, then [723 words]Terri WonderJul 13, 2003 19:109991
Hatred vs. tolerance [154 words]pdc5210`May 19, 2003 05:349122
Welcome response [189 words]Carol ThorndykeFeb 13, 2003 20:426626
Israel [95 words]Gary LoftusFeb 13, 2003 14:056617
Jihad is warfare [116 words]ChuckFeb 12, 2003 00:026577
Way truth and life modified? [155 words]A. J. NolteFeb 7, 2003 17:196490
Keep up the good fight! [117 words]Michael ClarkFeb 7, 2003 14:066487
Islamic revisionist theories [164 words]hari iyerFeb 7, 2003 10:566482
Disinformation yet again from the defenders of Islam [119 words]J.ShearerFeb 7, 2003 08:586480
Jihad is not Always a Peaceful Exercise [274 words]S.F.Gohara, M.D.Feb 7, 2003 07:446477
the most important lesson of all... [78 words]Tammy Erann-SoussanFeb 7, 2003 04:136476
Jihad on September 11 [109 words]Arlinda DeAngelisFeb 7, 2003 00:416475
What does this tell us about the press? [103 words]Irvin J. FarberFeb 6, 2003 21:266472
Thank you and keep up the good work [44 words]Oleg ChernyakFeb 6, 2003 18:086466
How Soviet agitprop methods are used by Islamic extremists [272 words]Ken BesigFeb 6, 2003 14:526461
Kudos [5 words]Bob SternFeb 6, 2003 13:276458
The fairness of Dan Pipes [92 words]Dave JaycoxFeb 6, 2003 10:506451
Jihad and conscience [246 words]Jiri SeveraFeb 6, 2003 10:326450
You're a good man, Charlie Brown [226 words]Rick MoorefieldFeb 6, 2003 10:046449
The Hajj [67 words]Yosef SternFeb 6, 2003 10:026448
Looks like profs running for cover. [78 words]dennisw-usaFeb 6, 2003 08:456447
Scholarship [45 words]Dixon PorterFeb 6, 2003 08:006446
Re: Jihad and the professors [21 words]Stuart DewFeb 6, 2003 07:526444

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