Ganesh Sahathevan

by Ganesh Sahathevan In her book In The Shadow Of Swords   ABC's Sally Neighbour does a good reporter's job of documenting the work of Hambali,Abu Bakat Bashir, the Bali bombers and the rest of Jemaah Islamiyah. In doing so she has demonstrated (perhaps without realizing it) that Bashir's JI was actually mainstream, and did not really undergo any sort of process of "radicalization". While many of them fought in Afghanistan, anyone familiar with the practise of Islam in this region,  in particular Malaysia, will see much that is familiar in the mainstream.  Given the decision to charge Hambali Neighbour's work serves as a useful reminder of what precisely motivated the Bali bombing and the targeting of Australians for murder. It is also useful to note that the book's subtitle is: How Islamic Terrorists Declared War on Australia Not Islamists, not extremists, not radical Islamist, but  Islamic Terrorists. END ENLARGE BOOK COVER In The Shadow of Swords: How...

by Ganesh Sahathevan This writer has long argued that unless the issue of  passive supporters of jihadi terrorism is addressed , jihadis will continue to be well funded and supported in their work.  In saying so Sir Gerard Templer's work in then Malaya has been often referred to , in particular  his use new villages to separate terrorists from their natural base.  London Mayor Sadiq Khan is shown in the well referenced article below by Willam Craddick   to  be an active supporter of at least jihadism, and would no doubt have been the type of person that Templer would have seen fit to place under guard and surveillance in a new village, to ensure that his status and contacts are never used in the jihadi cause. Of particular interest to this writer is the connection yo one Zakir Naik.As Craddick has reported: In 2016, the  Daily Mail  revealed that Muslim millionaire Farouq Sheikh had donated £15,000 to Khan’s mayoral campaign. Mr. Sheikh has ...

by Ganesh Sahathevan Regardless of who or what perpetrated the  London Bridge attack, we can be certain that it was a swarming attack given this eyewitness description of what took place:   BBC reporter Holly Jones, who was on the bridge, said a van driven by a man was "probably travelling at about 50 miles an hour" before it hit a number of people. "He swerved right round me and then hit about five or six people. He hit about two people in front of me and then three behind," Ms Jones told the BBC News Channel. BBC home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds said a security guard who oversees a number of pubs in the London Bridge area said he saw four people stabbed by three attackers. As reported on this blog, the Melbourne CBD's grid structure and inter-connected pathways, often via major shopping areas, makes in especially vulnerable to a swarming attack, of the type seen in Mumbai, Paris and now London.   The vehicle incident in the Melbourne CBD earlier this yea...