Terrorist Attack in Paris (Split from News)

[Cycle]

I heard on the news this morning that they had six snipers monitoring the apartment, one took a shot at Abaaoud, hit him but didn't kill him.  They then tried to blow down the door to the apartment, but it had been armored against assault.  A second charge got the door down.  The people in the apartment were firing back with AK-47s and possibly an RPG, before Abaaoud's cousin finally detonating her suicide vest.

The French law enforcement definitely have my respect.  Nice going guys.  Truly.

[Lustful Bride]

I heard on the news this morning that they had six snipers monitoring the apartment, one took a shot at Abaaoud, hit him but didn't kill him.  They then tried to blow down the door to the apartment, but it had been armored against assault.  A second charge got the door down.  The people in the apartment were firing back with AK-47s and possibly an RPG, before Abaaoud's cousin finally detonating her suicide vest.

The French law enforcement definitely have my respect.  Nice going guys.  Truly.

Events like this have made me really wish that there was a real world version of Rainbow Six.

[Skynet]

Apologies for Daily Mail, but the ex-wife of one of the terrorists revealed that her husband was a lazy bum who didn't bother going to local mosques, performing the salat, and wouldn't have fasted during Ramadam were it not for his family members making him do so.  He also spent all day doing drugs in his bedroom.

Link.

He also accidentally set off his suicide vest too early.  Sounds like the perfect poster boy for martyrdom.

[TaintedAndDelish]

Hopefully his religious affiliates will believe that he is going to hell for being an unfaithful muslim and for being killed by a woman. I hope they all suffer with that thought for the rest of their miserable lives. :)

[gaggedLouise]

An ISIS-affiliated militant (a suspected terrorist) was arrested last night near the northern Swedish city of Skellefteå*, after he had been sought all over the country by the police. I think it's the first one of its kind linked to ISIS and getting arrested around here, and his detected presence in Sweden was one of the reasons for a raised state of alert within the cop force - the other reason was the events in Paris, of course.

The police are now saying they suspect the man was planning a terrorist strike in Stockholm.



*Dashenka, who has visited the town, pointed out to me that the name Skellefteå is quite impossible to pronounce even close to the right way for any non-Swedes; that's why I enjoy putting it here.  :D

[Oniya]

Several world leaders, including the French head-of-state and President Obama are now referring to ISIL as 'Daesh'.  (Yes, the article dates back a bit, and there are more recent ones, but this one gives more of the 'why'.)  There are a number of psychological points to this.

1) While still an acronym of the group's name (in Arabic), it forms a word that is less than flattering:  Depending on how it is conjugated in Arabic, it can mean anything from 'to trample down and crush' to 'a bigot who imposes his view on others.'  (Still accurate, in my opinion, but there you go.)
2) It removes the designation of 'Islamic' from the group, which helps to distance the terrorists from Muslims as a whole.  (This is similar to referring to the WBC as the 'Westboros' instead of the 'Westboro Baptist Church'.)
3) It's hard to maintain an aura of superiority and be attractive to new recruits when your name translates to 'losers'.
4) The terrorists don't like it. 

[Cycle]

U.N. resolution to take action against Daesh passes unanimously.

[TheGlyphstone]

Several world leaders, including the French head-of-state and President Obama are now referring to ISIL as 'Daesh'.  (Yes, the article dates back a bit, and there are more recent ones, but this one gives more of the 'why'.)  There are a number of psychological points to this.

1) While still an acronym of the group's name (in Arabic), it forms a word that is less than flattering:  Depending on how it is conjugated in Arabic, it can mean anything from 'to trample down and crush' to 'a bigot who imposes his view on others.'  (Still accurate, in my opinion, but there you go.)
2) It removes the designation of 'Islamic' from the group, which helps to distance the terrorists from Muslims as a whole.  (This is similar to referring to the WBC as the 'Westboros' instead of the 'Westboro Baptist Church'.)
3) It's hard to maintain an aura of superiority and be attractive to new recruits when your name translates to 'losers'.
4) The terrorists don't like it.

Is 4) actually that accurate, though? While I would not, under most circumstance, be citing Cracked.com as a reliable source, they do run 'serious' articles once in a while, and there was a recent one related to this.
7 Things I Learned Reading ISIS Propaganda Magazines.

It's under #6 where he discusses their matter-of-fact dismissal of the 'Daesh' nickname, at least internally. Maybe it feels better for outsiders to call them that regarding points 1 and 2, but unless the article author was drastically misreading it, 3 and 4 don't seem to matter; they obviously dont call themselves that, so it doesn't get used in their own recruitment efforts, and they aren't bothered by the insulting nicknames given by their enemies.

[Oniya]

Is 4) actually that accurate, though? While I would not, under most circumstance, be citing Cracked.com as a reliable source, they do run 'serious' articles once in a while, and there was a recent one related to this.
7 Things I Learned Reading ISIS Propaganda Magazines.

It's under #6 where he discusses their matter-of-fact dismissal of the 'Daesh' nickname, at least internally. Maybe it feels better for outsiders to call them that regarding points 1 and 2, but unless the article author was drastically misreading it, 3 and 4 don't seem to matter; they obviously dont call themselves that, so it doesn't get used in their own recruitment efforts, and they aren't bothered by the insulting nicknames given by their enemies.

The AP got information that they aren't quite so dismissive of it.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4570385,00.html

Several residents in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city which fell to the extremist group in June, told The Associated Press that the militants threatened to cut the tongue of anyone who publicly used the acronym Daesh, instead of referring to the group by its full name, saying it shows defiance and disrespect. The residents spoke anonymously out of fear for their safety.

[TheGlyphstone]

Fair enough. It is propaganda, after all, and I can see benefits in harshly punishing any sign of rebellion regardless.