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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 17-Nov-2014
17-Nov-14 World View -- Turkey's Erdogan says Muslims, not Christopher Columbus, discovered America

Web Log - November, 2014

17-Nov-14 World View -- Turkey's Erdogan says Muslims, not Christopher Columbus, discovered America

Merger of ISIS and al-Nusra seen unlikely, despite reports

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Blunt language from Canada's Stephen Harper to Vladimir Putin
Merger of ISIS and al-Nusra seen unlikely, despite reports
Turkey's Erdogan says Muslims, not Christopher Columbus, discovered America
UN committee in Jordan investigates Israeli war crimes

Blunt language from Canada's Stephen Harper to Vladimir Putin

Stephen Harper and Vladimir Putin at G20 meeting on Saturday

Stephen Harper and Vladimir Putin at G20 meeting on Saturday

As we reported yesterday, Russia's president had to eat lunch alone on Saturday at the G20 meeting being held in Brisbane, Australia, because none of the other countries' national leaders wanted to be seen with the man who invaded Ukraine.

It's now been revealed that the conversation between Canada's prime minister Stephen Harper and Putin was particularly blunt:

HARPER: "I guess I’ll shake your hand, but I have only one thing to say to you: you need to get out of Ukraine."
PUTIN: "I’m not in Ukraine."
HARPER: "That’s why I don’t want to have a meeting with you, you’ll just lie to me."

AFP

Merger of ISIS and al-Nusra seen unlikely, despite reports

There have been several recent news reports about a possible merger between the Syrian jihadist groups Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria (IS or ISIS or ISIL) and the al-Qaeda linked Jabhat al-Nusra (al-Nusra Front). However, examination of these reports make it evident that they all come from the same unreliable sources.

Although al-Nusra and ISIS fighters have cooperated in one or two specific local instances, ISIS would demand full subjugation of al-Nusra to itself, and that's not going to happen. In fact, statements from al-Nusra have expressed contempt for ISIS' claim to be either a "state" ("Islamic State") or a Caliphate, as ISIS leader Abu Omar al-Baghdadi has claimed.

In the larger picture, al-Baghdadi has asked jihadist groups around the world to subjugate themselves to his self-declared ISIS caliphate, and a scattering of smaller jihadist groups from Indonesia to Algeria have done so. However, neither of the major al-Qaeda umbrella groups, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) headquartered in Yemen, nor Al-Qaeda on the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), headquartered in northern Africa, is going to give up its identity and subjugate itself to ISIS. Joshua Landis

Turkey's Erdogan says Muslims, not Christopher Columbus, discovered America

At a meeting of the 1st Latin American Muslim Religious Leaders Summit in Istanbul on Saturday, Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Muslims discovered America long before Christopher Columbus did:

"Latin America's contact with Islam dates back to the 12th century. Muslims discovered America in 1178, not Christopher Columbus. Muslim sailors arrived in America in 1178. Christopher Columbus mentions the existence of a mosque on a hill along the Cuban coast. I will talk to my brothers in Cuba and a mosque would suit the top of that hill today as well. We would build it if they [the Cuban government] say so. Islam had expanded in the American continent before Columbus arrived."

Various groups, from Malians to Vikings, have claimed to be the first to "discover America," but there's no archaeological evidence of any permanent settlements prior the expedition of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus in 1492.

There is a small Muslim minority in Cuba, many of whom claim that they're discriminated against. A delegation from Turkey traveled to Cuba earlier this year to seek permission to build a mosque in Havana, but the Cuban authorities rejected the request. Today's Zaman (Istanbul) and Independent (Ireland)

UN committee in Jordan investigates Israeli war crimes

The investigation committee of the UN Human Rights Council is meeting in Amman Jordan to hear the testimonies of Palestinians claiming to be victims of Israeli violence, to gather evidence of Israeli war crimes in the Gaza war of several months ago. They're meeting in Jordan because Israel has denied its members entry into the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Likewise, Egypt has denied them entry into Gaza via the Rafah border crossing.

Israel's Foreign Ministry officially announced last week that it would not cooperate with the Council's investigation, saying that the Council has already predetermined that Israel is guilty, and is not investigating crimes by Hamas. The probe is headed by Canadian legal expert William Schabas, who previously stated that he believes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be brought before the International Criminal Court on war crime charges. Ma'an (Bethlehem) and Jerusalem Post

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 17-Nov-14 World View -- Turkey's Erdogan says Muslims, not Christopher Columbus, discovered America thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (17-Nov-2014) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 17-Nov-2014 17-Nov-14 World View -- Turkey's Erdogan says Muslims, not Christopher Columbus, discovered America

Blunt language from Canada's Stephen Harper to Vladimir Putin

Merger of ISIS and al-Nusra seen unlikely, despite reports

Turkey's Erdogan says Muslims, not Christopher Columbus, discovered America

UN committee in Jordan investigates Israeli war crimes

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 17-Nov-2014
17-Nov-14 World View -- Turkey's Erdogan says Muslims, not Christopher Columbus, discovered America