shifts that have
taken place in the Middle East, redefining the urgency of the nuclear
issue.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Although outwardly more liberal than the Saudis, the Qataris have surpassed them as financiers of extremism and terrorism.
U.S. officials reckon that Qatar has now replaced Saudi Arabia as the
source of the largest private donations to the Islamic State and other
al-Qaeda affiliates.
Qatar, the world's wealthiest country per capita, also has the
unsavory reputation for the mistreatment and effective slavery of much
of its workforce.
Leaders of Western states threatened by jihadi advances are happy to
sit down with the largest financiers of terrorism in the world, offer
them help, take as much money as they can, and smile for the cameras.

Mehdi Hassan is the fourth British man from the coastal city of Portsmouth to be killed
while fighting forISIS in Syria. Hassan was just 19 when he left with
four friends for Syria in October 2013. They named themselves the
"Britani Brigade Bangladeshi Bad Boys." Four of the five have been
killed.
Much of the media has, over the last few years, attempted to explain
why British Muslims are being radicalized, and why some wish to fight
for a terror group known and feared for its brutality.
Some commentators blame the darker corners of the internet; some point to the supposed glamour and glory of war, and others attribute part of the blame to "government policy" and the "persecution" felt by British Muslims living in a country allegedly full of "anti-Islamic feeling."
Those concerned with the practical workings of radicalization,
however, look to the initial involvement of Western recruits to ISIS
with extremist preachers and organizations.