08.04.07

Unfortunate humor

Posted in Human Rights Issues, Muslim Understanding, Uncategorized at 1:37 pm by expatgirl

A man is taking a walk in Hatyai, Thailand. Suddenly he sees a little girl being attacked by a soi dog. He runs over and starts fighting with the dog. He succeeds in killing the dog and saving the girl’s life. A neighbor who was watching the scene walks over and says: “You are a hero,” tomorrow you can read it in all the newspapers: “Helpful Hatyai man saves the life of little girl.” The man says: “But I am not from Hatyai!” “Oh, then it will say in newspapers in the morning: Tremendous Thai saves life of little girl” – the neighbor answers. “But I am not Thai!” – says the man. “Oh, what are you then?” The man says: “I am a Saudi!” Then next day the newspapers say: “Islamic extremist kills innocent soi dog.”

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05.14.07

More Americans Die from Ball Point Pens than from Terrorism

Posted in Human Rights Issues, Muslim Understanding, Uncategorized at 1:45 pm by expatgirl

APRIL 30, 2007 Report on Terrorism

WOW! Take a look at these statistics
US Dept. of State
Country Reports on Terrorism -Report Home Page
Released by the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism
April 30, 2007
www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2006/82739.htm

Victims and Targets of Attacks
As was the case in 2005, Muslims again bore a substantial share of being the victims of terrorist attacks in 2006.

Approximately 58,000 individuals worldwide were either killed or injured by terrorist attacks in 2006. Based upon a combination of reporting and demographic analysis of the countries involved, well over 50 percent of the victims were Muslims, and most were victims of attacks in Iraq.

NOW TAKE A LOOK AT THESE STATS ON AMERICAN VICTIMS

U.S. citizens worldwide killed as a result of incidents of terrorism: 28
U.S. citizens worldwide injured as a result of incidents of terrorism: 27
U.S. citizens worldwide kidnapped as a result of incidents of terrorism: 12
TERRORISM DEATHS OF PRIVATE U.S. CITIZENS IN 2006 (BY COUNTRY)

Country	Date of Death	Number	Location
Afghanistan	May 18, 2006	1	Islam Qal, Herat, Afghanistan
	December 6, 2006	2	Kandahar, Afghanistan
Iraq	January 6, 2006	1	Nasiriyah, Iraq
	January 16, 2006	1	Baghdad, Iraq
	January 18, 2006	2	Basrah, Iraq
	February 11, 2006	1	Baghdad, Iraq
	March 9, 2006	1	Baghdad, Iraq
	March 14, 2006	1	Tal Afar, Iraq
	March 20, 2006	1	Baghdad, Iraq
	May 3, 2006	1	Tallil, Iraq
	May 7, 2006	1	Balad-Tahwilla, Iraq
	May 8, 2006	1	Near Rustamiyah, Iraq
	August 17, 2006	1	North of Tallil, Iraq
	August 18, 2006	1	Baghdad, Iraq
	August 28, 2006	1	Baji, Iraq
	September 17, 2006	1	Hawijah, Iraq
	September 22, 2006	1	Basrah, Iraq
	October 4, 2006	1	Baghdad, Iraq
	October 11, 2006	1	Tikrit, Iraq
	October 22, 2006	1	Baghdad, Iraq
	November 2, 2006	1	Baghdad, Iraq
	November 13, 2006	1	Baghdad, Iraq
	December 21, 2006	1	Baghdad, Iraq
Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank	May 14, 2006	1	Tel Aviv, Israel
Pakistan	March 2, 2006	1	Karachi, Pakistan
Thailand	September 16, 2006	1	Hat Yai, Thailand

TERRORISM INJURIES OF PRIVATE U.S. CITIZENS IN 2006 (BY COUNTRY)

Country	Date of Death	Number	Location
Afghanistan	April 7, 2006	2	Lashkargar Province, Afghanistan
	May 18, 2006	2	Islam Qal, Herat, Afghanistan
Algeria	December 10, 2006	1	Algiers, Algeria
Egypt	April 24, 2006	5	Dahab, Sinai, Egypt
India	July 11, 2006	1	Srinagar, India
	August 16, 2006	5	Imphal, India
Iraq	January 18, 2006	1	Basrah, Iraq
	January 29, 2006	1	Taji, Iraq
	May 18, 2006	2	Herat, Iraq
	May 29, 2006	1	Baghdad, Iraq
	October 24, 2006	1	Keokuk, Iraq
	December 21, 2006	1	Baghdad, Iraq
Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank	April 17, 2006	1	Tel Aviv, Israel
	October 11, 2006	1	Nobles, the West Bank
Russia	January 11, 2006	1	Moscow, Russia
Thailand	September 16, 2006	1	Hat Yai, Thailand

TERRORISM KIDNAPPINGS OF PRIVATE U.S. CITIZENS IN 2006 (BY COUNTRY)

Country	Date of Death	Number	Location
Afghanistan	March 30, 2006*	1	Near Gresham, Afghanistan
Iraq	March 30, 2006*	1	Baghdad, Iraq
	July 9, 2006*	1	Baghdad, Iraq
	August 5, 2006*	1	Baghdad, Iraq
	November 16, 2006	4	Aswan, Iraq
Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank	June 10, 2006*	1	Nobles, the West Bank
	August 27, 2006*	1	Gaza City, Gaza
Nigeria	January 30, 2006*	1	Offshore the Niger Delta, Nigeria
	August 23, 2006*	1	Port Harcourt, Nigeria
*Date rescued/released.

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05.12.07

Southern Insurgency, Not Jihad

Posted in Human Rights Issues, Muslim Understanding, Uncategorized at 1:04 pm by expatgirl

Here is a good article

“The rise of more puritanical strains of Islam in southern Thailand is often cited as contributing to the violence, particularly given Muslim anger at the deployment of Thai troops in Iraq. But while Islamic consciousness and a sense of persecution and solidarity with fellow Muslims has grown over the last two decades, it would be a mistake to view the conflict as simply another manifestation of Islamic terrorism. The violence is driven by local issues.”

Check out the full text at

www.south-thai.com/Insurgency.html

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04.21.07

Stateless in Thailand The Sea Gypsies

Posted in Human Rights Issues, Uncategorized at 2:17 pm by expatgirl

The Molken People of the Andaman Sea area or the sea gypsies are traditionally nomadic people. They have been trapped inside countries such as Thailand. With modern passport control they now have limited travel freedom. They are stateless people with NO RIGHTS in any country. This means no passports, no schooling, no health care, no legal rights and often no jobs.

Read here for some basic information on the Molken people.

http://www.cusri.chula.ac.th/andaman/en/way/index.php#moken

Read a personal story of a Molken family from Prince of Siam Stories.

“Sea Gypsies can not be Princes”

http://www.south-thai.com/gypsy.html

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04.06.07

Palestine/Israel Conflict: America’s skewed media

Posted in Human Rights Issues, Misc., Muslim Understanding, Uncategorized at 3:32 pm by expatgirl

I just watched a wonderful movie on Israel and Palestine. I loved how balanced the movie is. It is called “Promises.” It was produced and brought about by American Jews yet shows a balanced picture of the problems between Israel and Palestine.
Today I was surfing the net…. only 2 sites (clicks) and I stumbles upon this website that shows stats on the deaths in Israel and Palestine and how the American media skewed coverage of it.

Wow….. take a look

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/media/net-report.html

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03.28.07

Prince of Siam Stories

Posted in Human Rights Issues, Misc., Muslim Understanding, Uncategorized at 4:12 pm by expatgirl

A young man wrestles with himself and society on his choice to become a Muslim. http://www.south-thai.com/jihad.html

True Story of how the US Military sponsors sex tourism in Hatyai. http://www.south-thai.com/soldier.html

Story of the sad fate of the Sea Gypsies and the uncounted number of people that drown in southern Thailand each year. http://www.south-thai.com/gypsy.html

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03.20.07

More Human Rights News

Posted in Human Rights Issues, Muslim Understanding, Uncategorized at 6:19 pm by expatgirl

A more balanced article about the situation in southern Thailand

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/20/asia/AS-GEN-Thailand-Insurgency-Human-Rights.php

The Associated Press…. but who was the author of this article?

Here is the Human Rights Organization’s original document on the topic of “Thailand: Security Forces Responsible for Disapperances Government Should End Policy of ‘Dissapearing” Suspected Muslim Malay Separatists

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/03/20/thaila15499.htm

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Biased Reporting

Posted in Human Rights Issues, Muslim Understanding, Uncategorized at 6:01 pm by expatgirl

Yes, Indeed there are radical groups of insurgents in southern Thailand that the newspapers claim to be Islamic. Instead of condemning a peaceful and productive religion (Islam) reporters should use the terms “radical-insurgents” or “extremists.” This would HELP the general more moderate and peaceful Muslim population of southern Thailand fit a separate and negative title to the ones causing violence.

The Counterterrorism Blog (I have the link in my favorites) still has the best information on southern Thailand. I challenged Dr. Zachary Abuza to find statistics on the killings, violence and imprisonment for Buddhists and Muslims in southern Thailand and his reporting in the last month have reflected a change. Because Muslims are the majority in this area, and not all violence is done by Muslims he should avoid claiming non related violence to the true insurgency. I asked that Dr. Abuza not use the word “Muslim” unless it is proven that it is indeed a Muslim and then sparingly as not ALL violence by Christians, Buddhist and Jews are labled as Christian, Buddhist and Jewish violence.

The main point is that radical groups should not be labled as Muslim or Islamic. They should be labled as what they are, divergent.

The Co-Chaimen of the Counterterrorism Foundation are Daveed Gartenstein-Ross & Andrew Cochran. I wonder if they will be up for factual and productive reporting instead of playing on westerners’ fears of Islam and using sensationalism in journalism for their own benefit.

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