Im actually surprised by this jews comments,


Islamic State: Is Australia too worried?

Are Australians too worried about the threat of Islamic State?

Political scientist Professor Efraim Inbar thinks so.

On a visit to Australia, the analyst from the Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies in Israel said, "I must say: I come here and I think the threat of ISIS is greatly exaggerated."
The flag of Islamic State in an area west of Kirkuk in September.

"What can they do?" he asked of the Islamist group, which as well as fighting for control of territory in Syria and Iraq also masterminded the bloody attacks in Paris in November, killing 130 people. "It's Australians that are afraid of ISIS.


"You are so far away and you are speaking of this ISIS threat. You know. Come on. Keep it in proportion."

Professor Inbar's comments raised eyebrows of guests at a lunch late last week organised by the Australia-Israel & Jewish Affairs Council.
Aussie diggers secure an area prior to the Iraqi soldiers starting their night time activities. Australian troops are ...

Aussie diggers secure an area prior to the Iraqi soldiers starting their night time activities. Australian troops are training Iraqi soldiers for the fight against the so-called Islamic State.

After all, Australia is active not just in bombing missions on IS targets in Syria but also in contending with the 150 or so citizens who have gone off to fight with radical Islamists in Syria and Iraq as well as the threat of homegrown jihadist terror inspired by IS.

International affairs expert Paul Monk, who was also at the lunch, said later: "Curiously, given the deep concern about ISIS terrorism in the Western world, the head of one of Israel's leading think tanks was quite dismissive of the danger from ISIS."

(IS, ISIS, and ISIL are acronyms for the same Sunni militant organisation.)


Commenting on the risk of Australian citizens radicalised by IS in Syria returning to commit acts of violence here, Professor Inbar said Australia should make sure they don't come back or they are arrested upon return.

Professor Inbar may have a point about Australia's fear of IS.

Before Tony Abbott was replaced as prime minister last year, his government's warnings about the so-called "death cult" were so prolific, one economist noted that the fear in the public may have actually hampered consumer activity.

In a 2015 Lowy Institute Poll, nearly 70 per cent of Australians surveyed said the emergence of IS in Iraq and Syria was a high risk to Australia's security in the next 10 years – and an equal share of those polled supported Australia's participating in military action against IS in Iraq.

By comparison only 20 per cent feared war between the US and China.

Professor Inbar's views underscored a point of difference between Israel and Australia.

The chaos that has engulfed the Middle East since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, followed by the Arab Spring and the war in Syria, has seen the jihadist threat accelerate and spread throughout Western democracies like Australia.

But it has also seen the armed forces of states in the Middle East disband or become dysfunctional, while Arab states grow less powerful.

Since "states are more dangerous than non-state actors", Professor Inbar noted, the chance of a large-scale war in the Middle East has diminished drastically.

Nevertheless, one Muslim country in the region has remained strong: Iran, posing a threat to the other strong country in the area, Israel.

And Tehran's support of groups like Hamas and Hezbollah remains a problem for Israel, according to Professor Inbar.

He expressed disappointment over the US's promotion of the Iran nuclear deal signed in 2015. The agreement between Iran, UN Security Council Members, Germany and the EU aims to slow Tehran's nuclear weapons program, even as other aspects of the country's foreign and military policy remain untouched.

Professor Inbar said it was now unclear what sort of role the US would maintain in the Middle East as it focuses on the challenge from a rising China.

In the Middle East, "there is huge concern about the direction of the United States".

Discussing the US election year, in his opinion, "anything is better than Obama".

But Professor Inbar said that if US President Barack Obama proves to be a "historic trend" rather than a "historic accident" then "we have to adjust – all of us".

Although aware that the US arguably had to consider China a "first priority", it wasn't "wise for the Americans to leave the region to the Iranians".

If the US seeks an exit from the region, Washington should do it with a "big bang" and "hit Iran", the strategic analyst said.

"Fear is the best political currency in the Middle East."

Despite Professor Inbar's assessment, Western governments today, including Australia's and the US's, have shown a reluctance to become more deeply involved in the Middle East. That hesitation can be attributed to memories of the quagmire following the Iraq invasion, as well as the never-ending war in Afghanistan.

In 2013, Mr Obama refused military action in Syria after the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad crossed a "red line" by using chemical weapons.

Worried ? no. We just don't want Muslim refugees.

double plus good wrote on Feb 9^th, 2016 at 2:50pm:

Worried ? no. We just don't want Muslim refugees.

You haven’t been talking to any property developers lately, have you, Homo?

Karnal wrote on Feb 9^th, 2016 at 5:06pm:

double plus good wrote on Feb 9th, 2016 at 2:50pm: Worried ? no. We just don't want Muslim refugees. You haven’t been talking to any property developers lately, have you, Homo?

Property developers are carpet  baggers. They want all the cheap third world migration they can get.

nonsense, jew, we don't need your spineless apologetics here - Islam is the greatest threat to democracy and freedom in the modern world.

polite_gandalf wrote on Feb 9^th, 2016 at 5:20pm:

nonsense, jew, we don't need your spineless apologetics here - Islam is the greatest threat to democracy and freedom in the modern world.

Definitely  a threat to social cohesion if going by what's happening in the world right now.

I'm not worried about IS. My concern is filling Australia with people who come from a country with ultra-conservative beliefs and a bronze age culture.

If there were white people wanting to immigrate to Australia with the same culture and politics as the muzzies, the regressive left would have a fit, but it's ok when it comes from a muzzie because it's diversity and it's their culthca!

Wally do you share John Smith's lack of concern for the rights of foreigners? Do you think Australians are only concerned about ISIS because of threats and risks to Australian citizens?

link

Our leading authorities are busting their guts trying to cancel the passports of anyone suspected of being a security threat to the people of Australia. They don't want them to leave for Syria where they'll either be killed, or can be refused entry to Australia upon their return.

Our intelligence agencies have firm knowledge that Syria is successfully culling Muslim Australians who were a terrorist threat to us before they left to fight with ISIS.

This is the madness that comes with governments that despite what party they call themselves are WAY to the Left in their political philosophy.

Every passport cancelled increases the likelihood of Australians being killed here in their own homeland by Muslim youths who hate Western society for everything that's good about it.

Over and again, whether it's here or in Britain, Continental Europe or Scandinavia - by FAR the greatest offenders for putting the public at risk of terrorist bombings are the politicians themselves.

I"m only sorry that I won't be alive to witness the mass executions of politicians and others that will take place when finally the Silent Majority will have a truly representative party installed in government.

Yes, we are too concerned with IS but not concerned enough about muslims in general.

Subconsciously we know they are poison, but our precious sensibilities dictate that we must find an acceptable outlet for such concern - and that is where IS comes in.  Thus they are pumped up as some existential threat, much like Al qaeda was a decade ago, but they are just proxies for the real enemy.

freediver wrote on Feb 9^th, 2016 at 6:35pm:

Wally do you share John Smith's lack of concern for the rights of foreigners? Do you think Australians are only concerned about ISIS because of threats and risks to Australian citizens?

John smiths comments, please explain?

I dont think most australians care about international problems and most are probably brain washed by the media anyway, most would never hear about isis if it wasnt published in the media, we had a aussie lawyer, burnside stating that tony abbott and andrew bolt are one of the most dangerous aussie individuals

So if the media covered up ISIS, people would not know about it?

Got any other revelations for us?

GordyL wrote on Feb 9^th, 2016 at 5:32pm:

I'm not worried about IS. My concern is filling Australia with people who come from a country with ultra-conservative beliefs and a bronze age culture.!

Now now, Herbie and the old boy are just passing through. They’re just blow-ins.

They’ll be dealt with in the fullness of time.

Alas, FD will be with us for good.

Is Australia too worried about ISIS?

I tend to agree that the threat to Australia is exaggerated. I don't believe Australia is worried; that is 'way too much of a sweeping generalisation. Its not hard to dislike and condemn what ISIS stands for. Unfortunately, different parties are using ISIS for their own ends.

ISIS provides two gifts to foreign governments. One is a reason to intervene in Syria. The other is that it makes the intervening government look as if it is doing something about whatever the voter perceives as the cause of “terrorism.”

Intervention in Syria, as a policy, will always play well to those who support and defend Israel. At the same time it is an excellent proving-ground for weaponry. Surrounding populations also have their own particular axes to grind, if you will.

I do not believe the propaganda that ISIS ideology can be defeated, no matter how many smart bombs we lob into their territory. Nor do I believe a campaign fought on the ground can defeat ISIS anymore than such has defeated the Taliban.

We have to remember that the vilification of the Assad regime comes from policies that supported and defended Israel back in the 1960s. It has been convenient for Western governments to shift their justification to the matter of “human rights.” The presence of any foreign military, but especially ours in the Middle East, is part of a cynical and hypocritical game that our politicians seem to believe will not come back and bite us in the arse.

Get the hell out of the ME, and mind our own business. But especially, stop feeding our population self-serving and sanctimonious twaddle as our moral obligation to the world.

issuevoter wrote on Feb 11^th, 2016 at 9:35am:

I tend to agree that the threat to Australia is exaggerated.

Apologist.

... wrote on Feb 9^th, 2016 at 7:50pm:

Yes, we are too concerned with IS but not concerned enough about muslims in general. Subconsciously we know they are poison, but our precious sensibilities dictate that we must find an acceptable outlet for such concern - and that is where IS comes in.  Thus they are pumped up as some existential threat, much like Al qaeda was a decade ago, but they are just proxies for the real enemy.

The biggest threat to Australia is conservative Islam.

Why are we importing the people of the most culturally regressive culture on earth?

GordyL wrote on Feb 11^th, 2016 at 10:51am:

Why are we importing the people of the most culturally regressive culture on earth?

Now now, Sprint, Herbie and the old boy were hardly imported. I believe they came of their own accord.

If they want to be here, why shouldn't we let them? There's plenty of room here, you know. I think you'll find the culturally regressive tend to get on rather well.

freediver wrote on Feb 9^th, 2016 at 6:35pm:

Wally do you share John Smith's lack of concern for the rights of foreigners? Do you think Australians are only concerned about ISIS because of threats and risks to Australian citizens?

While your at it Wally, perhaps you can explain why FD is concerned with womens rights when it's a muslim who's denying them but not worried when it's someone else?

polite_gandalf wrote on Feb 11^th, 2016 at 9:37am:

issuevoter wrote on Feb 11th, 2016 at 9:35am: I tend to agree that the threat to Australia is exaggerated. Apologist.

Convert.