We have had a lot (in our minds) to complain about lately in America. But we should be extremely thankful for the opportunities that we have and not take them for granted. One of the things I have done in the recent years is to volunteer with the International Rescue Committee. I was assigned as a mentor for an individual from Syria and another from Afghanistan. During an interaction at their apartment a question was posed to me, “Why are you volunteering to help us?” Although it seemed like a profound moment as I was impressed with his question, it did not require much thought on my side. Without hesitation I responded that we are spoiled and ungrateful in America. We have it better than anybody else in the world, yet we complain about so much. You guys come from war torn countries, had to leave your homes and families, waited years in another foreign country for the refugee process, and then were placed in a country where people probably will not treat you the best. You also did not speak any English, nor did you know anybody when you arrived. Your problems outweigh ours by a lot and yet we complain to a much higher extent. The response I received back from them was a simple head nod.
Not only are we Americans spoiled within the United States, we are also spoiled when we travel (for vacation and leisure, not as forced refugees). We go to other countries and expect them to speak English to us. This coming from the country of people that might find it offensive if you speak another language to someone because they are speaking it (saying “gracias” to a Mexican is somehow found racist here. Authors note: Generally not found racist by the person you’re speaking to, only by others meddling as they tend to do). I have had the pleasure to travel to many different countries, learn many languages, and meet many people. It’s not racist to take interest in someone else’s culture – in fact wouldn’t that be the opposite? Nobody learns another language sarcastically. When I speak Arabic to people they are baffled and their faces light up. When I overhear Italian from people traveling to Yosemite I always enter myself into their conversation. They want to add me on social media right away, buy a coffee for me, and are genuinely excited during these encounters. The reason is because they do not expect it from us. Americans get to scroll their phones in the AC, “Netflix and Chill”, or create memes instead of acclimate to others and learn. It’s not too late to be thankful and generate a better understanding of how good we have it here. It would also help with the image of ignorance that Americans have in virtually every other country – An ignorance of course that stems from the fact that we have it so good here. To illustrate this, I have included a video (the website suggested I include a video because people are too lazy to read anymore and this might help them stay engaged). Imagine living in America (where we argue about wearing masks and which pronouns are to be used) and a war is happening in your backyard. Literally in your backyard where you dog takes its craps. Five enormous tactical vehicles park outside your house and foreign soldiers walk over to you dressed in body armor while wielding weapons in their hands. You are working in your garden and cannot even communicate with them because they do not speak your language. Has this ever happened to you? Didn’t think so. I’d say we have a lot to be thankful about in America and we ought to realize this and count our blessings. Anyway, that exact situation happened in Afghanistan and because of a little Pashto language skills, the man stood up and shook my hand. Be thankful, grateful, and be safe! It could be a whole lot worse. Ironically, if it does get worse, it will more than likely be our own faults. A ship doesn’t sink because of the water around it, it sinks when the water gets inside. Happy Thanksgiving!
Considering our National Security as well as our personal individual security (both are becoming more closely related) let’s ponder some ideas. Garry Kasparov (World Champion Chess player) discusses an idea about evolution versus mastering. In the United States we are constantly evolving and moving on to the new and improved thing (iPhone, changes to social media platforms, self-driving vehicles, Alexa, constant addition of applications, 5G, and the list can go on and on. This constant evolution means that we do not spend enough time understanding the full list of possibilities within the previous system. We’ve moved on even though the previous system was not mastered. Consequently, there are many holes that were never patched up and offer an opportunity for bad actors to take advantage of these openings. This makes our work twice as difficult because not only do we have to go back and patch up problems that existed in the old systems, but we have to have an eye on the future issues that are going to inevitably create chaos. An example of this (there are many similar and far more devastating examples) is during the 2018 midterms it was discovered that Iranians created fake Facebook ads and posts. Still, in 2019, Facebook was working on ridding the Iranian linked pages that had posed as liberal Americans pushing an anti-Saudi message along with a pro-Iranian one. The worst part of this is that almost one-third of these pages were created five years before. How long has this been going on while we’ve been blissfully unaware worrying about which bathroom to use and which words are offending us? How many made up arguments from foreign agents have been stealing the time and energy of Americans while causing us to protest, burn our own neighborhoods, and divide our families? This is embarrassing! Although I will discuss cyber and cybersecurity in the future, I want to keep this short and offer one last thought. The U.S. has moved mostly every aspect of living to run via the internet and a form of computer system: hospitals, electricity, building security systems, dams, bridges, vehicles, phones, OPM, databases, grocery stores and temperature regulators, how we consume our media (Netflix, Youtube, Hulu, Social media etc), credit card machines (anybody still carry cash?), daily business through email and sending/receiving information, etc. – Another list that can go on and on. Now, what if the internet and satellites were suddenly hacked and shut off rendering all of these things useless? What if in the year 2020 there was a strange Covid pandemic and most people made their living via the internet? What if millions of people received Covid vaccinations but hacked electronic systems forced the machine to increase doses in the vaccines causing a more severe outbreak? Then people took to social media to explain how the government is trying to kill them with this vaccine? Madness ensues and soon the internet of things is completely shut off to stop the madness from spreading. Then we all sit in candlelit rooms afraid to step foot outside. Nah, that could never happen…have a great weekend!
Terrorism is much more than any physical act of violence or intimidation. It is the ensuing psychological warfare that fuels terrorists, as their goal is to ultimately elicit a response. This response can be fear, open condemnation, or a large-scale military response from a certain government. Whether we as civilians realize it or not, we play a role in terrorism. After an attack we take to social media, argue about who did it, how or what the response should be, and put pressure on our government to act a certain way. We end up terrorizing ourselves! This is what terrorists want. They utilize the reaction (or “overreaction”) of the government and of the civilians to confirm to their followers that the hatred against their group exists. They point to what government officials say in denouncing their acts, to what our media is saying, and to what individuals are saying on social media to harden their hearts and substantiate their ideology of being “oppressed”. This strengthens their cause as they relay the message of, “See! They are openly and outwardly attacking our cause.”
As explained by Walter Laqueur in “The Future of Terrorism”, propaganda par le fait, meaning propaganda by the deed, has been used by many throughout history. The terrorist act is just the provocation; it is propaganda for their ideology. The physical attack is only the beginning. It equates to the “Lone Wolf” act of today although it can be carried out by a Lone Wolf group that associates itself with a larger organization. Examples of this are the Sri Lanka Easter bombings in 2019 (linking themselves with ISIS) and the Christchurch shooting in the same year (he being linked with White Supremacy). Here we need to discuss and clarify a point that FBI director Christopher Wray made recently about the difference between ideology and organization in reference to Antifa (He explained that Antifa was an ideology, not an organization). His comments were shared and amplified to a great extent by one side and were used as justification against Antifa being labeled as terrorists. The examples above are enough to point out the fact that terrorism is based on ideology, not on an organization. An organization in fact holds an ideology. His comments unfortunately may have given them a carte blanche to continue with their actions although he clearly was not prescribing to this. The U.S. does designate certain organizations as terrorist organizations but these organizations are labeled as such because of their ideology and actions made because of their ideology. In the same space, white supremacy is also an ideology, Islamist extremism holds an ideology, and fascism is an ideology as well. We’ve seen some horrendous acts made in part to these ideologies have we not? By openly attacking an ideology though, we end up stepping in their crap…and then spreading it by walking in crap-covered shoes. If we attack an ideology, we harden their stance and create more reason for them to act a certain way and to believe in their ideology more strongly. This is why we should reference terrorism in public as a blanket issue instead of focus on certain areas and groups (Islamist extremists, white supremacists, etc.). The goal here being to not give them the attention that they so desire. Media organizations escalate these issues by picking sides and holding extreme biases to what and how they report. Exposing this lazy approach is a great article by Hugo Micheron and Bernard Haykel, where they discuss terrorist attacks in France and the misrepresentation done by both the left and the right. In fact, Director Wray walked back his earlier comments only one week later by saying, “Antifa is a real thing, not a fiction. The FBI has seen Antifa engage in organized tactical activity”. He also stated that “we do not view how nationally organized something is as a proxy for how dangerous it is”. In today’s society the damage was already done because sound bites like that that can be used for advancing an argument, spread like wildfire. Curiously enough, the media did not highlight his later clarification as much as they did the initial statement. Another issue highlighted by this example, is that of using video versus a written article. The media understands how we consume our “news”. Generally, emotions are captured by videos and they are shared and consumed by just clicking a button. On the other side, written articles more often shroud the real facts. A news outlet can write an article that covers the facts with the knowledge that less people will take the time to read it. I use the word shroud above because this is one way that they can claim due diligence and correct reporting even though far more people will watch and consume a video that may include misrepresented sound bites over actually reading an article. In fact, I would be surprised if you were still reading this now. In many cases, society should let the experts handle and discuss what should be done. As I pointed out in a previous post, the ease of access to information has made society dumb instead of more informed. The goal of terrorism is to terrorize – this is mental and we do it to each other every day online. The idea of increasing the influence of a terrorist organization by focusing on that group in public and spouting their name and ideology is clear now. We gave Al-Qaeda global recognition, which is what they wanted. Using Al-Qaeda, let us examine 9/11 and its impact.
9/11 was the ultimate propaganda by the deed. 3,000 Americans lost their lives’ and this more than elicited a response from the strongest nation in the world. The U.S. immediately attacked in Afghanistan and soon everybody knew about Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. But, this was the desired effect. The terrorists were hoping for a reaction and that reaction is still ongoing today. In 2003, Khaled Sheikh Muhammed (KSM) confessed about his part in being the mastermind of the 9/11 attack. In his book titled, “Enhanced Interrogation”, CIA contract psychologist James Mitchell, recounted his interrogation where KSM stated, “The media, either on purpose or without realizing it, would promote Islam’s cause and champion tearing down the measures put in place to protect the American people”…he said, “your leaders will turn on you. It will play out in the media and strengthen the hearts of the brothers. It will recruit more to Allah’s cause because the press coverage will make the U.S. look weak and divided. Eventually, America will expose her neck to us for slaughter.” Shortly after, this proved to be true when the methods used to gain information were attacked. Cries for Guantanamo Bay to be shut down were throughout the country. This created some division right away, even before the miscalculated decision to go into Iraq took place. Here is a perfect example of how our reactions unwittingly confirm to the attackers that the U.S. is against all of Islam. This furthered the division inside the U.S. and ultimately perpetuated the convoluted subject of ISIS and our indirect (and unwanted) aid to Iran (the U.S. ridding many Sunni Muslims in Iraq making way for Iran’s Shia sect’s influence to grow in the area). Drones and surveillance techniques then drastically changed and as Snowden leaked, the U.S. had capabilities to listen/watch citizens. Again, the division was given more ammunition (see my earlier post on how technology is outgrowing our intelligence). Fast forward to the “Muslim Ban” (named this by the media which was a disservice to the U.S. people and a service to terrorists) and we can see how this escalated over the course of 15 – 20 years.
Clearly, 9/11 is not the sole event responsible for today’s divide but it has certainly contributed and kicked things off while strengthening the cause for the terrorists responsible. Just like any child with siblings, if one gets more attention, it will be pointed out by the other siblings. So now, any event that appears to be racist, oppressing, or offensive is highlighted as much as possible. Not only do we have political leaning news outlets that bring on opposing sides so we can physically see the dichotomy, we then turn to social media as private citizens. Meanwhile the terrorists are hosting an office party opening a bottle of bubbly and lighting cigars as they watch their favorite show called, “America attacks itself”. It is impossible to log onto social media without seeing a political post (generally not of original thought). We amplify their message and even allow other countries to take advantage of our misplaced and miscalculated rage. We can play the blame game and post articles, memes, and/or videos that explain how bad some guy is but that accomplishes absolutely nothing in the positive. To the contrary, it only brings on negativity. Social media engagement is built and based on emotions. They even have emojis for us to display our emotions (like, love, care, sad, laughter, angry, etc.). All of this information is monitored, put into algorithms, returned back to the consumer with more emotion grabbing content, and then this information finds its way into the hands of groups that can utilize it to do the U.S. harm. Russia knows what we are bickering about and enters itself to further the chaos which is currently creating a social catastrophe. A society that is beginning to work under the “mob rule” escalates it further by trying to get anybody fired that has a different opinion. It is despicable that news outlets do not educate people on this. It would be amazing if they would simply acknowledge their responsibility and say this is the aim of such and such, these are their motives, and we are pulling for truth, not ours or anybody else’s agenda. The problem is that the news is reported in such a way because they know how we as individual citizens react. They know our level of gullibility, our need for information that fits our agenda, and they know that we do not really know very much (only what they have given us). We have a responsibility to maintain a level of awareness and to protect the vulnerabilities of our nation. We need to understand that in today’s society the people are the first to see and spread information. It is irresponsible of us if we share information that is only half true or not true at all. It’s easy to click the share button on something because the title fits our line of thought. It’s difficult to do some research and have an awareness of the potential consequences in spreading (mis)(dis)information. In the military they call this “choosing the hard right over the easy wrong”. Be accountable.
Media is a major tool of terrorists as for the most part, news outlets and civilians do the work for them. Terrorists want to take responsibility for an attack so that the media will talk about them. Who commits an atrocious crime and then wants as many people as possible to know about it? They claim responsibility for a reason…to spread whatever ideology it is that they hold. We always want to know who did it rather than why it was done. In my own workplace after a school shooting, I heard an individual say, “I bet it was another white dude”. This is not a healthy way of thinking, but it is what has been created. As a “white dude” myself I could have been offended and responded with an emotional tirade. But this would have been feeding into the propaganda of the enemy. It would have made the situation worse and caused division within my own place of work. See how this chain reaction happens with such ease in a world of ill-informed individuals? Maybe this is the new form of modern day terrorism done to the United States. A bomb would be easy to see because of the physical damage, and it would more than likely bring people together so that type of carnage doesn’t happen again. On the other hand, fanning the flames of discontent via social media in the U.S. would be much more difficult to locate and call out. It would put one side against the other and soon a great nation like the U.S. would be fighting against itself. Using the technology, the way we consume information, and unfortunately our high level of laziness, terrorists could let us attack ourselves while saving their own time, resources, lives, and energy. Please do your civil duty and refrain from participating in the division of our nation lest we “show our neck for slaughter”. We should be unified as one and not waste time, resources, energy, and money on spreading contrasting ideologies while opening the doors for our enemies. We all carry this responsibility. There’s this book you may have heard of called The Bible. I believe it’s still available for purchase but who knows for how much longer. It directs our path here in 2 Timothy 2:23 – “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels”. Also Galatians 5: 13-15 says, “For you brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this you shall love you neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!” In effect, we are all in charge of our own personal security and are responsible for our actions – combined with everybody in the U.S. we have the ability to make up a solid force for counterterrorism. Our mission is to not give into the temptations that enhance the stance of our enemies. Be still, be aware, do some critical thinking, and help protect the vulnerabilities of our nation.
Grit is defined in psychological terms as a positive, non-cognitive trait based on an individual’s perseverance of effort combined with the passion for a particular long-term goal or end state (a powerful motivation to achieve an objective). As things progressively get more comfortable, we lose this. The more we nestle within a blanket to keep our little feet warm, the more we cannot manage being out in the cold. There is an old saying, “there is no growth in the comfort zone, and no comfort in the growth zone.” For the majority of kids these days, they do not experience much other than comfort. How is one supposed to grow and develop when the only adversity they face is when they did not thoroughly enjoy the meal that their mother prepared for them? As parents, we need to prepare our kids for the road, and not the road for our kids. By removing our children from adversity, we take away an opportunity for them to experience and overcome difficulty – thus an opportunity to learn and prepare for the future. Lacking these experiences, when things get difficult in the future we’ll see a temper-tantrum or a simple “I quit”. Neither one of these is productive and helpful. Back to grit! The Bible equates grit to endurance and perseverance. Romans 5:3 says “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance.” John 16:33 says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome this world.” It would be prudent of us to apply grit into every aspect of life. Allow yourself (and your children) to overcome discomfort. Soon you will be able to find comfort during uncomfortable situations, understanding that it is a growing opportunity and you are getting better. Nobody gets smarter by not studying and learning. Nobody gets stronger by lying in their bed, so why would one become more resilient by not experiencing difficulty?
I went for a run the other day and planned for an endurance run (longer distance but slower pace). After 2 ½ miles I started justifying running only 3 instead of 4 miles. I thought, “I’ll just run this next half mile hard, finish 3 miles and be good.” I then realized this was an excuse (justification) my brain made up so that I didn’t have to complete my self-assigned homework. I then pondered the word endurance and came to a realization – In order to gain endurance, one must endure. It was right there in the word itself! I finished (endured) the run in its entirety and thanked God for the heads up and opportunity to learn while getting stronger.
So far we have been unable to display the foresight to understand the capabilities of our tech and how it can affect us (both positively and negatively). We continue to want more and more, quicker and quicker. We are consumed with consuming the newer and “better” version of something that has just become new the previous year. China seems to have been carrying out a plan for years and they continue to do so. As we all know, China makes products and sells them to the U.S. for cheap. Additionally, it is estimated that China steals up to $600 Billion (with a B) in intellectual property from the U.S. on a yearly basis. This is money that would otherwise be circulating in our economy, not theirs. So, not only are they stealing hundreds of billions of dollars in tech annually, we are also paying them for the cheap products they make for us. Basically, the United States is paying for the advancement of China. Because of our online presence they know what we want to purchase, where we make those purchases, and how to manipulate our purchases. What other information is available on us as individuals in the United States? Let’s take a look at social media. For years data has been collected on U.S. people through Twitter and Facebook. Algorithms are designed to keep giving you content that you want. If you like Trump, it floods you with like minded content. If you like a certain cause, you’ll get that as well. Naturally this constant push of information will enhance any biases that you already have thus producing a proliferation of the already formed dichotomy in this country. Knowing this, we now realize that not only are we benefiting other governments, we are hurting ours (and our sanity) at the same time. Apparently, sadly, we always seem to take the bait and allow ourselves to be openly manipulated by the platforms we keep coming back to. See Russia and the 2016 election or Cambridge Analytica. This ease of access to information is actually making us dumber because we don’t think (critically) for ourselves anymore. We just like and share something (possibly made by a foreign government) and type “This” or “Yaaassss” or “Truth” or anything that requires an extremely minute amount of brain power and energy. As always, I digress. The U.S. has very little limits on what we do on social media (besides the mob of cancel culture people that seek out any wrongdoing as if we are perfect). This means that other governments can easily get access to all of our information from things we’ve gladly posted online. This is the equivalent of handing the Russian FSB a dossier of yourself and everything you’ve done the last decade. As China and Russia have limits on their social media, the FBI or CIA do not have the ability to do this to our adversaries with such ease. Our individual security needs to drastically improve and we collectively need to get better. Imagine visiting another country where you need to get a VISA to enter. They could potentially have pages upon pages of information about you and your family. This means that they can tailor your visit as well by taking advantage of the knowledge that they have easily acquired. Awareness is the first step, take it easy on social media, and seek out informative/useful knowledge. The need to state your opinion or to “be right” is far less important than your personal security.
Readings to consider: The Fifth Domain by Richard Clarke and Robert Knake; Sandworm by Andy Greenberg
In the 1980’s the CIA used a laser engraver to send messages to assets around the world. Otherwise invisible to the naked eye, the laser engraver was able to burn a micro message into the cover of a February 1983 issue of National Geographic. A communications plan sent to a recruited Soviet Colonel (Vladimir Mikhailovich Visilyev) was legible using a 30x magnifier. As a popular choice of reading material the magazine did not draw unwanted attention, and unless one knew the exact where and how to look at it, the engraved message would go unnoticed. This may allow one’s mind to imagine the endless possibilities of concealment into today’s world of endless advertisements, information sources, media, and entertainment. Example: With the understanding that the foreign government is tracking all online (and offline) activity an overseas asset could visit the ESPN APP to “check scores” at a specific time on a daily basis (Right after work while having a beverage would seem normal). Within a one minute gap a specific AD with a message only decipherable by the asset would be displayed, communicated, and received.
From: SPYCRAFT by Robert Wallace and H. Keith Melton
Up to this point, the majority of these posts have generally been a recount of information with a lack of personal input. This entry is different as I provide a small section of my personal notes over the past four years or so. Spinning off my previous post of Russian Disinformation (of which you should have read) I will briefly discuss how the proliferation of U.S. distractions has assisted both Russia and China.
After 9/11, the focus of the U.S. (intelligence, military, politicians, etc.) was on combating terrorism. This caused a period of resources increasingly being shifted to terrorism while neglecting other areas. We lost ground (or blew a lead) on cyberspace while both Russia and China were honing these skills and hacking U.S. systems. The U.S. does not know how to respond to these attacks, especially since now the nation is so divided. To make this point clear, the U.S. knows how to respond but the risk of action could be damning because of how the U.S. reacts. That’s right; the government cannot do anything because of how we would respond to them doing something. Case in point: after 9/11 our own in the CIA were attacked for how they conducted business overseas (You can read the 9/11 Commission Report – it’s almost 600 pages, and the Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Enhanced Interrogation). China has hacked over 21 million U.S. individuals; Russia has hacked military systems and uses social media to further the U.S. divide. No response. They understand that we will not respond militarily to these attacks. As cyber is still relatively new there are not concrete rules on how to react. Military action is too much of a response and will anger/increase division at home if we retaliate in that manner. Reacting with the same response does not solve the problem either, especially when Russia and China don’t allow their citizens as much freedom as the U.S. does. We are so influenced by anything and everything online that protests, riots, etc. are easy to create. We also do not want our people to know this because we put our vulnerabilities on display (democratic vulnerabilities). We say, “How dare they try to dismantle our democracy”, yet it is because of our democracy that we do not respond. The backlash from our own people would be too much so we do nothing instead. If this continues we are going to eat ourselves which is basically the principle of “cancel culture”. Our enemies are not worried as they know our population would be up in arms against the government if we did attack (which is probably what they really want to happen). So now the U.S. is fighting these silent wars while also fighting against itself simultaneously. Here’s the platform of Russia and China: Let the U.S. fight themselves, stoke the fire via social media and radical groups, and then continually distract them with issues from Mexico, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Venezuela, North Korea, and anywhere possible. While this is happening continue to hack, build, and gain ground while preparing to insert yourself once again when the inevitable opportunity presents itself. If something catastrophic happens to the United States, we can certainly blame ourselves as a U.S. population. We opened the door to this division through our need to comment, be right, make a point, spread our ideology while discrediting anybody who disagrees, pander to certain groups, etc. If you believe you’re doing good by posting and sharing ideologies, you are not. You’re creating more division, getting yourself worked up, and providing more ammunition to enemies. We allow ourselves to be influenced so much by others and focus so much on ridiculous thoughts and ideas that we have lost originality, grit, and the ability to overcome animosity. This issue on raising children to be this way is in itself an entire book (See “The Coddling of the American Mind). P.S. chaos is not an answer to animosity – it just creates more animosity and temporarily shifts the burden. Which, my goodness, is another gigantic issue in America today – accountability.
Russia Disinformation. The KGB actually had a Department D (D for Dezinformatsiya) that was organized for the strategic purpose of spreading disinformation. They forged documents of fake U.S. misdeeds and plans which were conveniently “found” by other governments and official gossip channels (similar to our news here in the U.S.). Very detailed were these fabrications that used the same U.S. letterheads, official stamps, paper quality, ink, and use of official language. These documents would surface on TV, in newspapers, and radio through distribution channels developed by the KGB. They intentionally focus on divided groups within the United States (you may have noticed some division lately). In 1971, Russia forged pamphlets denoting a campaign against Black Americans to radical African-American groups while acting as the Jewish Defense League. In 1980, a forged newspaper article ran in San Francisco explaining a plan by President Carter to keep Black Africans and Black Americans at odds. In 1984, they then produced a forgery from the Ku Klux Klan. Perfectly timed around the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, these fabrications exclaimed that the Olympics were only for whites along with some other less than pleasant epithets. Also in the 1980’s, a Soviet publication reported that the AIDS disease was created in a Maryland lab with its purpose to be used as a biological weapon on specific population groups. This story, if you can imagine this, was picked up and shared throughout the world. Not surprisingly, many of these disinformation campaigns come out with a looming Presidential election and we the people eat it up with a shovel. With the ease of information flow in today’s America, we are our own worst enemies. With the press of a button, millions of Americans assist the Russian disinformation campaign on a daily basis.
For more knowledge in this area read: Spycraft (The History Of The CIA’s Spytech, From Communism To Al-Qaeda by Robert Wallace, Keith Melton, and Henry Robert Schlesinger (or just ask me and I’ll recommend a few others, there are so many resources on this subject).
The Rock of Gibraltar. As a British Territory (since 1713), Gibraltar sits on a small peninsula on the southern portion of Spain. It is now a popular tourist site that contains the only wild monkey population on the European continent. Interesting enough, these Barbary Macaques monkeys are not originally from this area. As their name suggests, they come from the Berber areas of Morocco, in North Africa. However, these monkeys aren’t the only Berbers that still have a link in Gibraltar. Berbers were and are the indigenous people from North and West Africa. In the 7th century and only a few decades after the creation of Islam, the Muslims (led by Musa Bin Nusayr) conquered and enslaved the Berber people of North Africa. After submitting and converting to Islam, a Berber chieftain named Tarek was tasked by Nusayr to invade Spain. In the year 711, Tarek and his Berbers set off to Spain. Upon touching European soil he instructed his men to burn the boats, signaling that retreat was not an option. The landing location in Spain is now known today as Gibraltar. The name Gibraltar stems from the Arabic “Jabel-al-Tarek” (Tarek’s Hill) and has maintained the name of its invader ever since. In addition to the invasion and conquering of Spain, this helped set up the future Barbary Slave Trade of Europeans in which an estimated 1.25 million Europeans were traded as slaves in North Africa.
In light of recent events taking place between Armenia and Azerbaijan, this “Did You Know” segment will cover a horrible period in the early 20th century. From 1914 to 1918 the world was caught up in WWI, but in 1915 something else was going on that did not receive much attention. Christians were being persecuted and killed by the millions. The term holocaust finds its’ origins in the Ottoman Empire. Meaning a “whole burnt offering”, the derivation comes from 1895, when Armenian Christians sought sanctuary in a cathedral where they were barricaded and set fire to. During the Armenian genocide Christians throughout the area were slaughtered or deported unless they agreed to convert to Islam. It is estimated that a total of 2 million Christians were killed during this time while many surviving Christians were violently forced to convert to Islam. Even more overshadowed in this is the genocide of around 300,000 Aramaic Christians. This is a group of Christians who still to this day (although dwindling rapidly due to similar treatment at the hands of ISIS) have a very small population in Iraq who can speak and worship in the ancient Aramaic language.
Suggested reading on this topic: The Last Christians by Andreas Knapp
Wilks Wroasting 