Latest Updates: conspiracy theories RSS

  • johnpi 8:42 pm on February 10, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: conspiracy theories, , ,

    Pakistani reporter’s father disowns son, denounces him as a ‘blackmailer.’

    I therefore, announce, while addressing the entire journalist fraternity, owners of newspapers, government and semi-government officials, including police department, FATA Secretariat and other government departments with whom my son Fawad Ali Shah is in contact, that my son is a blackmailer, who is using media as a blackmailing tool and those who are in contact with him or are involved in any kind of dealings with him will be responsible for their own losses. I also announce that I disown my son and expel him from the ownership all of my transferable and non-transferable property.

    Pakistan Media Watch comment:

    The question for The Nation is why, with all of this evidence against Mr. Ali Shah, they chose to publish his claims of being threatened by Blackwater and American diplomats including the US Ambassador to Pakistan – claims that were presented with no evidence other than his word, and which are immediately suspect given allegation by other journalists and even his own father of his manufacturing stories for attention and personal gain.

     

  • johnpi 10:44 am on January 30, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Area 51, Bantu, Bantus, black helicopters, Cloward-Piven, conspiracy theories, , , , New Hampshire, , Somali Bantus, , , ,

    A federally funded education program for Somali refugees in New Hampshire has been put on hold after accusations by another group of Somali refugees that it was teaching ‘Muslim doctrine.’

    The accusations arise out of a longstanding rift in the Somali community between Somali Bantus, a minority in their homeland, and the majority.

    “There’s been a lot of rumors about bad blood between the different factions, said Dan Calegari of Southern New Hampshire Services. “I work with these people daily. There’s never even been any hint of religious activity. … It really comes down to animosity between different segments of the Somali population.”
    ….

    Somali Bantus, the descendants of African slaves, are a marginalized minority in Somalia that suffered greatly during the country’s civil war. Many were evicted from their farmland by other Somalis and fled to neighboring countries. Thousands of these refugees eventually made their way to the United States.

    There is a language difference between Somalis and Bantu Somalis, said Idhow, which is how the rift all started. Because some Bantu refugees were more fluent in their own tribal language than Somali, the local elders thought it best to have a group that specifically served the Somali Bantu community.

    Hilariously, the folks at this website looked at this story and decided it was the sign of a left-wing conspiracy.

    Last night we heard from reader Thomas in response to the Manchester Somali story I posted yesterday. He confirms for us that the Cloward-Piven strategy* to overload the welfare system with poor and angry people was well-established in radical leftwing circles 40 years ago! Thank goodness we are all catching on, I just hope it’s not too late for us.

    Apparently, Cloward-Piven is to nativists what Area 51 is to the UFO people. Sadly, I’ll have to report this to my overseers back in Moscow. A black helicopter will be sent to mutilate their cattle…

     

  • johnpi 12:59 pm on January 24, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Ahmed Qureshi, conspiracy theories, ,

    A compendium of Pakistani conspiracy theories and their rebuttals.

    For example:

    Photobucket

    The picture above has been bandied about by Ahmed Qureshi and the rest of the clown posse as proof that the Indian government is secretly supplying weapons to the Pakistani Taliban in order to destabilize the Pakistani government. The conspiracy theorists have misidentified it as a manufactured-only-in-India weapon. It is actually from Russia:

    PK Machine gun is one of the most common weapons in Afghanistan which is not only used by the Afghan Taliban but used also by the Afghan police and their national army. These guns are available in large supply in Afghanistan mainly because the Russian army left behind large caches of Russian made weapons in after the war in 1980s. Another reason is the drug trade between the Russian gangs and Taliban where the gangs buy cheaper drugs from Afghanistan and pay for it with guns instead of money.

    (via)

     

  • johnpi 6:58 am on January 20, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , conspiracy theories, ,

    Nutty conspiracy theories out in the open in ravings of former Malaysian prime minister: “If they can make Avatar, they can make anything.”

    Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today claimed the 9/11 attacks in the United States, that killed nearly 3,000, was staged as an excuse to “mount attacks on the Muslim world”, saying killing as an excuse for war is not new to the US.

    The former prime minister also argued that Israel was created to solve the “Jewish problem” in Europe, saying the Holocaust had failed as a final solution against the community.

    “In September 2001, the World Trade Centre was attacked allegedly by terrorists. I am not sure now that Muslim terrorists carried out these attacks. There is strong evidence that the attacks were staged. If they can make Avatar, they can make anything,” said Dr Mahathir during his speech at the General Conference for the Support of Al-Quds here. Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem.

     

  • johnpi 10:00 am on January 7, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: conspiracy theories, , , ,

    The US embassy in Pakistan issued a rare public protest about harassment of its diplomats as a US congressional delegation arrived in the country.

    U.S. officials say they need more room and people to help disburse a $7.5 billion humanitarian aid package to Pakistan, whose cooperation Washington needs to fight al-Qaida-allied militants along the Pakistan-Afghan border.

    But suspicion of U.S. motives abounds among Pakistanis: Many believe the U.S. is simply flooding the country with more spies whose ultimate aim is destabilizing Pakistan and taking over its nuclear program.

    The bogeyman of the RAW/Rand/CIA/Mossad/Blackwater/Pakistani-Americans-traveling-on-visas axis raises its ugly head again.

     

  • johnpi 11:57 am on December 20, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: conspiracy theories, , , , ,

    Watching the anti-Muslim, Islamophobic, ‘counter-Jihadi’ blogosphere spread the news that Hizb ut-Tahrir’s American branch is holding a meeting today in Chicago is a case study in how the right-wing echo chamber works, albeit at a lower level where it probably won’t rise into the mainstream media.

    I followed links across four fearmongering blogs before I came to the original source for the info (I was unaware HuT had an active American website).

    Just because HuT has antagonists in common with all Muslims doesn’t mean HuT has much of anything in common with the Muslim mainstream. The seminar this evening will be about events in Pakistan, where it appears HuT will be trafficking in the same absurb, wild conspiracy theories and fantasies that tinfoil-hat-wearing Pakistani right-wingers do.

    It has become very clear that the one responsible for these explosions and the killings of innocent people is the Pakistani government, regardless of who actually committed these horrendous acts, whether or not they were private contractors (e.g.’ Blackwater) or someone else. For example the government knew about the explosion that was to take place at the military headquarter in Rawalpindi since July 2009, and instead of stopping it, the government let it happen to advance its own agenda, and used the attack on its military headquarters as a reason to justify the war as a necessity to establish security in the region.

    Yes, that’s right. The Pakistani military elite allowed a couple of their top generals along with a crowd of their own children and relatives to be massacred to better serve the agenda of their evil Western overlords. What a farce. Hizb ut-Tahrir is functioning at a level of credibility that’s about comparable to Lyndon LaRouche.

     

  • johnpi 3:52 pm on December 19, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: conspiracy theories, , , , ,

    Americans of Pakistani descent in Pakistan: Villianous agents and saboteurs working for the American government.

    Pakistan’s answer to Sarah Palin, a legislator with the right-wing PML-Q party named Marvi Memon, is sweeping up all US nationals into her accusation that ‘America is exporting terror to Pakistan.’ She makes the wild conspiracy theory claim that US nationals “caught planning terror attacks along with al-Qaeda” are somehow agents of the US government.

    Memon made the accusation on Monday and then demanded that the list of all 9,236 visas given to Americans in the last four months be handed up to the parliament for review. She also wants details for herself and her fellow pols “of where each US citizen was ’stationed’ and for what purpose.” It’s likely that the majority of those on that list will be Pakistani Americans who visited family or who have other established ties to the country.

    There can be little doubt that such a list will be used for Joe McCarthy-style demagoguery (“I have a list!“) as Memon and her like-minded politicians deputize themselves to police US nationals.

    So now in addition to concerns about facing unjust prejudice in America over their Pakistani background, Pakistani-Americans may now be put upon in Pakistan for their US background.

     

  • johnpi 9:54 am on December 17, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: conspiracy theories, ,

    Pakistan reports about harassment of US diplomats may have more to do with domestic politics.

    Parts of the Pakistani military and intelligence services are mounting what American officials here describe as a campaign to harass American diplomats, fraying relations at a critical moment when the Obama administration is demanding more help to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

    The campaign includes the refusal to extend or approve visas for more than 100 American officials and the frequent searches of American diplomatic vehicles in major cities, said an American official briefed on the cases.

    As I understand it from reading English-language Pakistani media, this may be less about deliberate harassment and more about the wild conspiracy theories that American agents are actually responsible for some of the Taliban suicide attacks that have recently occurred. The vehicle searches are alluded to as proof that there are ‘American/Blackwater agents’ swarming everywhere, and that Zardari’s government keeps intervening to let the bad guys get away, which feeds into the “Zardari is an agent of the West” rumor/smear.

     

  • johnpi 1:22 pm on December 14, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Ahmed Quraishi, conspiracy theories, ,

    The Bill O’Reilly/Sean Hannity of Pakistani media: Ahmed Quraishi.

    Or perhaps Al Frankin’s ‘lying liars’ label fits him better. Quraishi wrote:

    (More …)

     

  • johnpi 12:08 pm on December 14, 2009 | 25 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: conspiracy theories,

    An editorial in the Dawn newspaper decries the conspiracy theory movement in that country as a threat to national security:

    Well-known proponents of conspiracy theories are continuously reducing complex geopolitical issues the country is in the middle of to simply a matter of Islam vs the West (also Israel and India). And on this canvas depicting the epic battle between Islam and the West/Zionism, our political and military leadership is being painted as ‘agents’ of CIA and the US.
    ….

    It is imperative that space is reclaimed from conspiracy theorists, for the security of the state is threatened by it. Conspiracy theories are a clear, present and internal danger and the media must take direct action. For only the media and rational elements within civil society, be they defence analysts, politicians, lawyers, retired or serving servicemen, retired judges, cabinet ministers or ambassadors, can fight it. Such credible rationalists from civil society must be invited by the media to help fight this monster. This is an enemy that the security agencies cannot fight off.

    Meanwhile, prominent members of civil society are doing exactly the opposite:

    A lawyer of the federation on Monday accused the Pakistani army headquarters and an American intelligence agency of trying to destabilise Pakistan.

    The comments were made to the Pakistani Supreme Court. It’s unclear from the article what “the federation” is, but I think it must be similar to a national Bar association for lawyers in Pakistan.

    Pakistani civil society, in all its manifestations, seems to largely suck at this.

     

  • johnpi 9:09 am on December 12, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , conspiracy theories, , , , , US legal system

    Grist for the conspiracy mill: Rumors that alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Headley is a rogue CIA agent.

    If Headley were a CIA asset, we will know very, very soon. This is because Headley faces some serious criminal charges, and almost certainly is being threatened with the prospect of extradition to India — something he does not want under any circumstances. If Headley had ever worked for the CIA, his lawyers would present this fact, and soon, as a sort of entrapment defense: arguing that the present charges are unfair because the US government initially made him reach out to LeT. If he never raises such a defense, hopefully these rumors will be short-lived.

     

  • johnpi 8:25 am on December 12, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , conspiracy theories,

    Al Qaeda denies harming Pakistani civilians: Comforts supporters with conspiracy theories: CIA, ISI, RAW, Blackwater, etc.

     

  • johnpi 11:04 pm on December 9, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Ali Azmat, conspiracy theories, , , , , , , , , ,

    Riled about being called cowards in the New York Times, four Pakistani pop singers condemn suicide bombings, say they are not afraid of the Taliban.

    Abrar-ul-Haq, while condemning the suicide attacks, mentioned about his new album, which is about terrorism and suicide attacks. “We make the songs according to the present situation in the country and we always gave the message of peace through our music,” said Abrar-Ul-Haq. Ali Azmat also criticised the NYT report and said that it portrayed our music industry wrongly. “We are against those who fund Taliban, it’s 1986 project of Israel, USA, UK and India,” commented Ali Azmat. He nullified that Muslims are attacking mosques but foreign security agencies like Blackwater are involved in these activities.

    I think when it says “nullified that Muslims are attacking mosques,” it means he refuses to believe that Muslims would attack mosques and therefore it must be foreigners.

    Azmat was the singer in the original NY Times video blog who said that the Taliban couldn’t be blamed for burning down girls schools because they were receiving money from foreigners to do it. Azmat also says, “We know for a fact that it’s not us, all these terrible problems come from outside hands.”

    OK, I’ll say it: Azmat’s inability to confront the truth is cowardly, and he’s propagating his cowardice to his fans.

    Pakistan looks like it’s going down the tubes, and it’s not because the population of pure blameless icons of purity that are the Pakistani people are being sullied by outsiders. Pakistan has been dabbling in extremism as an instrument of foreign policy for three decades.

     

  • johnpi 8:57 pm on November 17, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: conspiracy theories, , , , ,

    Wild theories: Only one in four Pakistanis believe Taliban militants responsible for bomb attacks (video).

     

  • buzz 8:56 pm on November 5, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , conspiracy theories, , ,

    It will be interesting to watch the news, see how fast Fox and other news sources develop this story and who knows what. And who benefits from it.

    While I may not be ready to get on board the Guy Fawkes conspiracy, I am always interested to see how foreign forces are interested in influencing or directing American politics. I encourage everyone to keep their eyes open and not assume too much until we have all the facts (even the ones that don’t make headlines.)

    Also:
    Here is ISNA’s statement:

    ISNA Condemns Attacks on Fort Hood Soldiers and Expresses Condolences to the Victims and Their Families

    (Washington, DC – November 05, 2009) The Islamic Society of North America condemns in the strongest terms the attack on soldiers at Fort Hood, resulting in the murder of at least a dozen soldiers and the wounding of many others. We express our deepest condolences to the victims and their families.

    Although many details of the shooting are unknown at this time, it appears that the attack was led by a career soldier, Major Nidal Malik Hasan. The soldier who led this attack was either mentally unstable, or was motivated by a perverted ideology for which there can be no justification.

    ISNA is proud of the many Muslim men and women who serve loyally in the United States military. We are grateful for the sacrifices made by all US soldiers, who represent the religious, racial and ethnic diversity of America, to defend the Constitution and our national security. ISNA, a faith endorser of US Muslim military chaplains, is proud of the service they provide, offering comfort and support to people of all faiths and beliefs. Just today, ISNA’s chaplain endorser, Dr. Louay Safi, conducted a workshop at the US army base in Fort Bliss, Texas.

    ISNA will be holding a press conference with national Muslim leaders to address this incident tomorrow morning. Time and location will be announced later tonight.

    For more information, please contact

    Imam Mohamed Hagmagid Ali, Vice President of ISNA at 571.437.4734 or 571.437.9566
    Louay Safi, ISNA’s Director of Communications and Leadership Development and Chaplain Endorser at 317.679.6350

     

  • johnpi 7:02 am on October 26, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , conspiracy theories,

    Beyonce, fresh from having her Malaysian show delayed in response to Islamist criticism, is denounced by a Muslim Brotherhood MP in Egypt who declared that her first-ever show in that country will be ‘a violation of Shariah law.’

    Two weeks before American superstar Beyonce Knowles is scheduled to hold her first ever concert in Egypt, an Islamist MP publically blasted the government for accepting to host the event and accused the government of violating Sharia law.

    The bootylicious pop diva is set for a government-approved gig at the Red Sea resort of Port Ghalib, irking Muslim Brotherhood member Hamdi Hassan, who slammed the government for allowing a singer “who appears naked in her clips” to perform, which he said would spread vice.

    “The government is trying to make people indulge in sin and licentiousness to cover up the other crimes it is committing against them,” Hassan said in a parliament session.

    Now that is a conspiracy theory.

     

  • johnpi 6:56 pm on October 9, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: conspiracy theories, , the unintentionally funny,

    Orly Taitz’s latest conspiracy theory: The Nobel Peace Prize is a radical Muslim/Saudi Arabian plot to prop up their puppet Obama.

    Keep in mind that the prizes are political. There is a lot of pressure from different political bodies. Obama, just as Gore before him, is a stooge of the New World Order Crowd, of the Carbon Exchange, Cap and Trade Ponzi Scheme crowd, and a protege of Saudi Arabia. These people have bet billions of dollars and don’t want to let go of their puppet without a fight. They are trying to pull any string they possibly can to legitimate this fraud. An award is just one of those strings. Jimmy Carter got a Noble Peace Prize and he is known as a Saudi Money stooge who shamelessly appeared on TV, showed zero integrity and claimed that all criticism of Obama is racially motivated. After hearing this idiocy, do you still believe in High IQ and moral integrity of people getting Noble Piece Prize?

    Percy Sutton an African American former Brooklyn Borrow president went on the record, on National TV (it was available on you tube) stating that a known Radical Muslim activist Al Mansur approached him asking to write a recommendation for Obama for Harvard law school, and he stated that Obama was supported by the Royal family of Saudi Arabia during his education.. These people bet billions of dollars on this puppet and are trying to prop him, to elevate him with the Noble prize. It will not work.

    This is so cool…

     

  • johnpi 9:24 pm on August 30, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: conspiracy theories, precious bodily fluids, ,

    A rundown from McCatchy News service of some of the more bizarro conspiracy theories that are in the substrate of the right-wing rage this summer being manifest in the town hall upheavals, ‘birther’ movement, tea parties, etc.

    In one, retired FBI agent Ted Gunderson says the government has prepared 1,000 camps for its own citizens. He also says the government has stored 30,000 guillotines to murder its critics, and has stashed 500,000 caskets in Georgia and Montana for the remains.

    Why guillotines? “Because,” he wrote in a report obtained by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, “beheading is the most efficient means of harvesting body parts.”

     

  • johnpi 6:12 am on July 25, 2009 | 14 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: conspiracy theories, , , , ,

    Civil Rights group demands CNN’s Lou Dobbs be fired over crazy anti-immigrant stories and Obama “birther” rants:

    This is not the first time Mr. Dobbs has pushed racist conspiracy theories or defamatory falsehoods about immigrants. We wrote you in 2007 to bring to your attention his utterly false claim that 7,000 new cases of leprosy had appeared in the United States in a recent three-year period, due at least in part to immigrants. (The real number, according to official statistics, was about 400. Mr. Dobbs took his spurious information from the late right-wing extremist, Madeleine Cosman.) In addition, Mr. Dobbs has reported as fact the so-called Aztlan conspiracy, which claims that undocumented Mexican immigrants are part of a plot to “reconquer” the American Southwest. He has suggested there is something to a related conspiracy theory that claims the governments of Mexico, the United States and Canada are secretly planning to merge into the “North American Union.” He has falsely claimed that “illegal aliens” fill one third of American prison and jail cells. And Mr. Dobbs has routinely disparaged, on CNN’s air, those who have had the integrity to point out the falsity of these and similar claims.

    Respectable news organizations should not employ reporters willing to peddle racist conspiracy theories and false propaganda. It’s time for CNN to remove Mr. Dobbs from the airwaves.

     

  • thabet 1:27 am on July 5, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: conspiracy theories, , , , ,

    Goodness, a Khaled Diab comment piece I can actually agree with:

    Similarly, the 7/7 and 9/11 theories feed off a deep well of distrust dug by other lies. It seems clear to me that the British and American publics were misled in the run-up to the Iraq war, with all the fanciful claims of fictional weapons of mass destruction and the non-existent and farcical link between Saddam Hussein and his sworn enemies al-Qaida. Now that’s a conspiracy, if ever there was one. Instead of giving any credence to 7/7 or 9/11 conspiracy theories, we should dedicate our efforts to campaigning for a proper public inquiry into the real deceptions that took place and demand that those responsible be brought to justice.

     

  • plimfix 6:52 am on April 5, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Bilderberg group, conspiracy theories, cranks, ,

    Serious concerns regarding Anglo-American Imperialism, the corporate funding of US elections and the way neoliberalism has best served the rich and powerful are undermined by those who co-opt such issues to lend weight to dubious conspiracy theories linked to the publicity shy Bilderberg Group. Supporters of Bilderberg Group conspiracy theories include David Icke. Imagining cabals of shadowy oligarchs pulling the strings of the rich and powerful is not a valid deconstruction of contemporary imperialism — like all conspiracy theories, it’s a sad mixture of sensationalist analysis and intellectual laziness. Actually, I control the world.

     

  • abunoor 3:10 pm on November 30, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: conspiracy theories,

    I’m not going to link to it, but I found it interesting that Robert Spencer’s new book “Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs” (so I guess Mr. Spencer now subscribes to the idea that jihad does not necessary refer to military or violent activities) is currently the No. 1 bestseller on Amazon’s Books> Nonfiction > Current Events > Conspiracy Theories. I didn’t even know there was such a category.

     

  • thabet 12:32 pm on September 14, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , conspiracy theories, , ,

    The lies told in the run up to the Iraq invasion are the best arguments against 9/11 (and 7/7) conspiracy theories.

     

  • muse 2:20 am on September 9, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , conspiracy theories

    NYTimes article on the popular view in the Muslim world that 9/11 could not have been masterminded by Arabs (read: we’re just not that smart!).

    I’d say the article is pretty accurate in capturing the popular sentiment. I know I hear these comments if the topic comes up in my family; they are just unwilling to accept that Muslims could be solely responsible. All sorts of theories come up when Bin Laden is discussed, and almost nobody believes that he is still alive, let alone that the US is still looking for him.

     

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