https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/25/world/asia/philippines-marawi-isis-militants.html?_r=0 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...police-chief-and-take-hostages-in-philippines https://www.theguardian.com/global-...ines-in-flames-citizens-flee-isis-flag-marawi https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ilippines-city-duterte-martial-law/102093760/ I have some questions followed by my initial thoughts. 1.How does a well-armed, well-trained terror organization suddenly have a substantial military presence thousands of miles from the Middle East? While the Philipines has a large Muslim population, they don't suddenly become radicalized. And even if they did, where did their weapons come from and how did they organize into a fighting force? 2. Who is funding ISIS and providing arms for them? Our friends the Saudis and the Qataris? 3. Who is shipping the militants and shipping the armaments? Surely our powerful naval presence should have been able to snuff this out, right? Is there any reason to suspect the US has turned a blind eye? 4. Duerte has indicated he does not trust the US and wishes to have better relations with both Russia and China. What does this have to do with anything? My gut tells me ISIS is now the mercenary army of choice to destabilize regimes that do not cooperate with the US. See Syria and Libya. After you laugh and label these speculations conspiracy theory, please provide your own analysis if you have any.
Radical Islam and it's terrorist tentacles is not new to that region. The only recent change is their allegiance to ISIS and now being lumped in with them. Duterte's been talking smack on them since his campaign began but the radical Muslim issue was there even before he hit the scene. The problem with ISIS is their propaganda has rallying effects on radical Muslims across the world. Before most were isolated fighting their own radical cause, now they have a unified message and calling. I guarantee the ISIS organization in Philippines went by another name before ISIS gained clout on the international stage. Same as several splinter groups in Africa. ISIS just brought them all under one four letter umbrella. As for who's arming them, I assume it's not hard to purchase weapons if you can find the means on your own or with help form the mother organization. However, I'm certainly not naive and claim the U.S. didn't arm them under Obama and possibly may be doing so still under the military's continued way of doing things.
Well the Abu Sayyaf has been a thorn in the side of the Philipino for over 20 years. Not sure if they merged with ISIS.
Shia are by far the minority in the Muslim religion and have a major influence in Iran and now Iraq. Everywhere else, Sunni is predominant. Within the Sunni sect, there is a wide range of dogma. The most virulent form of Islam is Wahhabism, the state religion of Saudi Arabia. Saudi money and technology in the form of the internet has spread Wahhabism throughout the globe resulting in radicalization, greatly responsible for the waves of young jihadists coming together. Both ISIS and Al Qaeda adhere to the Wahhabism brand of Sunni Islam. The talks given by Trump, his Secretary of State, Mattis, and the idiot women at the UN calling Iran the worlds greatest sponsor of terror are baldface lies. Anyone with a brain understands it is Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the Gulf States who fit that role. But maintaining the petro dollar, growing arms sales, and limiting Iranian influence are more important to the status quo. To achieve these objectives, Iran is vilified and the Saudis are pacified.
A friend of mine has been going on mission trips to the Philippines for many years, but when he brings people with him, he won't go to certain parts of the islands because it's become increasingly dangerous to teach the Bible in areas occupied by Muslims. (I want to say Mindanao is one of them.) This isn't new, it's been going on for a number of years. it doesn't take a conspiracy theory to figure that if the group in the Philippines wants more traction in the region, they should go find a well-armed, well-funded group aligned with their interests.
"it doesn't take a conspiracy theory to figure that if the group in the Philippines wants more traction in the region, they should go find a well-armed, well-funded group aligned with their interests." Well, it looks like they found one.
