So what was the trigger event for radical islam?

[Arnold J Rimmer]

What kicked off the current wave of bloodshed?

The Soviet invasion of Afghan? The fall of the Shah? The abandonment of military actions against Israel?

What set the spark to the tinder for the fire that is consuming the Middle East and other areas? It isn't just jihad, because they're killing far more muslims than they are infidels.

So what set it off?

[Surrey]

Much earlier than that. If you read Tom Holland's book on the start of Islam, there were fanatics chopping unbelievers heads off in the seventh and eighth centuries And by unbelievers I include those who believed in a different brand of Islam or were not fanatical enough. Isis were genuinely copying early Islam.

[Surrey]

For more recent agitation how about the failure of the Americans to support the British and French at Suez. Up until then Britain and France had kept a lid on things but the US supported Nasser and Britain and France withdrew things gradually feel apart.

[johns624]

There were problems back in the Lawrence of Arabia days according to this book, which I read several years ago.
https://www.amazon.com/Lawrence-Arab.../dp/0307476413

[At ease]

So what was the trigger event for radical islam?

The Koran.

[Arnold J Rimmer]

Much earlier than that. If you read Tom Holland's book on the start of Islam, there were fanatics chopping unbelievers heads off in the seventh and eighth centuries And by unbelievers I include those who believed in a different brand of Islam or were not fanatical enough. Isis were genuinely copying early Islam.

Yeah, I know it's always been a creed with low tolerances, but we went for quite a while without suicide bombers and bloody mayhem. Then we hit the 90s and events just kept building until 9/11, and we're drone-striking them, and they're killing each other.

So what ended the quiet lull this time? What got the drums beating in the brush and sent the natives upon the warpath?

[101combatvet]

What kicked off the current wave of bloodshed?

The Soviet invasion of Afghan? The fall of the Shah? The abandonment of military actions against Israel?

What set the spark to the tinder for the fire that is consuming the Middle East and other areas? It isn't just jihad, because they're killing far more muslims than they are infidels.

So what set it off?

Around 1988 with Obama bin Laden as the mastermind.

[Surrey]

Yeah, I know it's always been a creed with low tolerances, but we went for quite a while without suicide bombers and bloody mayhem. Then we hit the 90s and events just kept building until 9/11, and we're drone-striking them, and they're killing each other.

So what ended the quiet lull this time? What got the drums beating in the brush and sent the natives upon the warpath?

There were Islamic terrorists in the 80s. Remember the attack on the US Marines in Lebanon. Then the Iranians took the embassy in Tehran. It had been building up since Suez.

Britain and France had been keeping a lid on things throughout the c19th but with the retreat from Empire they came back again.

[JML]

Simply large surplus of young men who are unemployed and have no future. They are easily swayed by someone offering them future. Nothing particularly to do with Islam. Same thing has happened elsewhere with other ideologies like Red Kherms in Cambodia who if anything were worse than IS.

In Syria troubles started after long drought when cities were filled with unemployed people from countryside.

[Half Pint John]

Much earlier than that. If you read Tom Holland's book on the start of Islam, there were fanatics chopping unbelievers heads off in the seventh and eighth centuries And by unbelievers I include those who believed in a different brand of Islam or were not fanatical enough. Isis were genuinely copying early Islam.

Par for the times.

Christians were burning people at the stake

[Half Pint John]

The start, according to bin Laden was Gulf 1 when the west stationed large military forces on holy land in SA. The French and British earlier occupation did nothing but build resentment

[Stonewall_Jack]

Supremacist Jews, Christians and Muslims of the middle east are a problem. Its only Turkey of all middle eastern countries that allows freedom, Turkey is Muslim majority but home to Patriotic Turkish Jews and Christians.

People are the problem, religion is a thing it can never be blamed for the ills of society.

[Stonewall_Jack]

Simply large surplus of young men who are unemployed and have no future. They are easily swayed by someone offering them future. Nothing particularly to do with Islam. Same thing has happened elsewhere with other ideologies like Red Kherms in Cambodia who if anything were worse than IS.

In Syria troubles started after long drought when cities were filled with unemployed people from countryside.

Poverty can be issue, but even in the USA there is brutal poverty, there is in my country the fact that we do not have national health insurance or any sort of feeling of pride, of actually standing for something worthy like we once had in the past.

Even in wealthy countries such as the USA there are homeless folks. There is religious bigotry in the USA, in the highest of ranks. In the USA there are supremacist Christians in Trumps admin such as Pastor Jeffress(Trump spiritual advisor) whom suggest Mormons, Jews, and Muslims are going to burn in hell.

In Saudi Arabia and Israel we see two somewhat wealthy countries...there is struggle in these two countries. In Israel and Saudi while there is wealth there are also many poor and working class Jews and Muslims and many of them stand by freedom.

Its the working man in the middle east that reaches out to Americans , English and more as a means to say hey even though our governments are corrupt we the people stand for freedom. Israel and Saudi Arabia is a case of two somewhat wealthy countries allied to the USA that also have laws that are different from the USA, in terms of freedom of movement and equality among man. The USA has to once and for all bring back the American spirit and ally with countries that support freedom. Lobbyists of the Israeli and Saudi gov are in the wrong and must be opposed and kindly told to change their views, if there is no change further action must be taken. All men deserve freedom, it is a crime that in Saudi Arabia and Israel there is not dignity nor freedom.

Poverty is not the only issue facing the Middle east. No Gov in the Middle East has the right to tell people what religion they must be or whom they can marry, only Turkey stands by US style freedom.

The entire middle east can learn from the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

[Salinator]

61jpdE73D3L.jpg

[wolfhnd]

The Mongols pretty much broke the back of Islam in North Africa. Later the Ottoman empire's collapse lead to instability in the Arab countries. The sultan was more of a secular leader than a religious leader despite theocratic overtones. A more radical religiosity in North Africa and Iran was a natural reaction to new secular powers of France and Britain replacing the Ottoman empire. The Zionist insurrection in Palestine is evidence of how weak British and French control was after WWII while at the same time oil brought infidels in increasing numbers to the middle east further destabilizing a culture already in crisis. The radical form of Islam that emerged in Saudi Arabia and later in Iran created an environment and resources where terrorism was bound to emerge as a political tool in a convoluted web of conflicts. The hatred of Jews in the Koran made Israel a propaganda and recruiting tool uniting various traditions in hatred of foreigners who even partially supported Israel.

Terrorism is the natural tool of weak powers confronting foreign control. Islam itself is the perfect tool for terrorist recruitment. The existence of a "holy land" unites Muslims all over the world. The number of Muslims may be the most significant factor in how common Muslim terrorists appear to be. Fanatics willing to kill themselves for an ideology are unfortunately not unusual.