Written on 26 April 2016.

Photo credit:Wikimedia Commons

   Die Syrien-Gespräche in Genf mögen aussichtslos sein, aber immerhin gibt es sie, und das ist das Verdienst der Beharrlichkeit eines Mannes, den die Vereinten Nationen mit der Aufgabe betraut haben, Unvereinbares vereinbar zu machen: Staffan de Mistura. Wo Kofi Annan und Lakhdar Brahimi entnervt aufgaben, gibt de Mistura nie auf. Das ist das Geheimnis seiner UN-Karriere: Mut und Beharrlichkeit. Nach einer langen Laufbahn in mehreren UN-Organisationen ernannte ihn der Generalsekretär zu seinem Sondergesandten im Irak (2007), in Afghanistan (2010) und schliesslich in Syrien (2014).

   Diese Himmelfahrtskommandos überstand de Mistura bislang mit Mut und Glück, ohne einem der Attentate auf UN-Einrichtungen zum Opfer zu fallen.

   Geboren als Schwede und aufgewachsen in Italien, wurde de Mistura 1999 ehrenhalber die italienische Staatsangehörigkeit verliehen. Seine Familie gehört zum dalmatinischen Adel aus venezianischer Zeit. Sein Vater, Emil Domingo de Mistura, wurde in Bari, Apulien geboren, kam angeblich durch einen albanischen Stiefvater ins Land der Skipetaren, diente im Heer des Königs Zog von Albanien und wurde Chef der Leibwache. Als der Zweite Weltkrieg mit Zogs Flucht zu König Faruk nach Ägypten endete, chauffierte de Mistura die hübsche Königin Geraldine durch Griechenland nach Ägypten.

   Als Flüchtling später nach Schweden gekommen, heiratete er eine Schwedin. Ihr jüngster Sohn war Staffan, geboren 1947. In den sechziger Jahren findet sich "Emilio" in Rom und dient als hervorragend vernetzter Agent E102 dem BND, wenn man dem Bericht von Hans Langemann, einem ehemaligen Agentenführer im Bundesnachrichtendienst BND, glauben will. Emilio trug den Titel Marchese (Markgraf).

   Sein Sohn “Stefano”, Agent E125, wurde angeblich von Langemann in die USA und nach Mexiko geschickt und im Rahmen der Nachwuchspflege in ein englisches Internat gesteckt, wie Ralf Anders in Deep Politics Forum berichtet. “Stefano” soll auch dem BND über seinen ersten UN-Job bei der FAO in Rom berichtet haben, worüber es mutmasslich wenig zu berichten gab.

   Bei der UN-Ernährungsorganisation war er stellvertretender Kabinettschef. schon damals jeder Zoll ein Diplomat, stets elegant mit einem Hang zu Masshemden mit besonders hohem Kragen (damals war hoher Kragen Mode). Er beherrschte mit leichtem Lispeln sieben Sprachen, darunter auch das in seinem Umfeld wichtige Deutsch.

   Seine lange Karriere bekam erst spät einen Knick, als er – inzwischen Unterstaatssekretär im italienischen Aussenministerium geworden – 2013 im Auftrag des italienischen Premiers Mario Monti mit indischen Behörden über das Schicksal zweier italienischer Schützen der Kriegsmarine verhandeln musste, die zwei indische Fischer vor der Küste von Kerala erschossen hatten. Die Schützen befanden sich als Wachpersonal an Bord eines Tankers und hielten die Fischer für Piraten. Der Streit Italiens mit der indischen Justiz, bei der den Schützen die Todesstrafe droht, hält seit Jahren an. De Mistura wurde freilich von der Aussenministerin des Kabinetts Renzi, Federica Mogherini, abberufen, nachdem er angeblich in einem Interview die Schuld der Schützen zugegeben hatte. Jedenfalls war de Mistura in Italien heftiger Kritik ausgesetzt.

   Kaum hatte er sich als schwedischer Honorarkonsul und Leiter der Axel-Munthe Stiftung und der Villa San Michele auf Capri zur Ruhe gesetzt – stets das Image des Grandseigneurs wahrend mit Massanzügen und einem Zwicker statt Brille, seinem Markenzeichen,– als ihn Ban Ki-moon 2014 nach Syrien schickte.

   Es war nicht leicht, in die Schuhe seines Vorgängers Lakhdar Brahimi zu schlüpfen, eines ehemaligen Aussenministers Algeriens, der im Nahen Osten hoch angesehen ist. Brahimi scheiterte an der Sturheit, mit der sich Assad weigerte, über sein Abtreten auch nur zu diskutieren. De Mistura hatte zwar wenig Erfolg mit seinem Vorhaben, kleine örtliche Waffenstillstände zum Schutz der Bevölkerung auszuhandeln, die zu einer umfassenden Lösung führen sollten. Doch der mit der Dauer des Konflikts steigende Leidensdruck half de Mistura, wenigstens einen wichtigen Teil der Konfliktparteien und ihrer Sponsoren in Genf an einen Tisch zu bringen und einen teilweisen Waffenstillstand zu erreichen.

   Der Waffenstillstand dauert im Prinzip immer noch, obwohl die Parteien versuchen, mit begrenzten Aktionen ihre Einflusszonen so zu arrondieren, dass im Falle der erwarteten Teilung des Landes lebensfähige Einheiten entstehen. Die Wiederaufnahme der Genfer Gespräche wird behindert nicht nur durch Assads kategorische Weigerung, abzutreten, sondern auch durch die Aufständischen, die den Verhandlungsleiter de Mistura beschuldigen, Assad zu nahe zu sein. Dabei vergessen sie, dass die Vereinten Nationen ein Klub von Regierungen sind, und de Mistura den Generalsekretär vertritt.

Heinrich von Loesch

Written on 18 April 2016.

Quilliam is a counter-extremism think tank based in London focusing on Islamist radicalisation, extremism, terrorism, and how to counter these phenomena. Their work combines research, outreach, and advocacy. Their latest report decribes and analyzes the plight of children raised by Daesh to serve the caliphate as child soldiers.  Germanpages.de -- Deutsche Rundschau is pleased to present the Executive Summary of this report.

   The future of children born and raised in Islamic State (Daesh) is a pertinent and pressing problem, requiring the immediate attention of the international community.

   There are currently 31,000 pregnant women within the ‘caliphate’ 1 . As many as 50 children from the United Kingdom are growing up on jihad in Islamic State, and no prior research examines what will happen to them if they choose to return.

   This report attempts to fill this gap by addressing the reintegration, re-education, and rehabilitation challenges of returning or escaping children. Over the last six months, Quilliam researchers have archived, translated, and analysed propaganda released by Islamic State featuring children. This is the first database of its kind, and reveals the following:   

   The largest amount of Islamic State media featuring children relates to violence, comprising either of children directly participating in violence, or being exposed and normalised to violence. Islamic State’s wilayats in Iraq have released the most images showing children and teens in combat and acting as suicide bombers.

• • In the last six months, Islamic State propaganda depicts 12 child executioners, and one child participating in a public execution. The report highlights the following exclusive findings which pertain to the recruitment and training of child soldiers in the Islamic State:

  • Direct coercion into joining Islamic State generally occurs through abductions. However, Islamic State also engages in more indirect, systemic coercion where people, specifically children, are pressured to join the group out of fear.

  • Children can not only assist in meeting the present needs of the ‘caliphate’, but can continue to propagate its existence and expansion once they grow up, thus securing the long-term survival of the ‘caliphate’.

  • The current generation of fighters sees children as better and more lethal fighters than themselves. Rather than being converted into radical ideologies, children have been indoctrinated into extreme values from birth or at a young age.

  • Schools and the education system are central to shaping the hearts and minds of the next generation. The indoctrination that begins in schools intensifies in training camps, where children between the ages of 10 and 15 are instructed in shari’a, desensitised to violence, and are taught specific skills to best serve the state and take up the banner of jihad.

  • Boys learn a rigid Islamic State curriculum, where drawing, philosophy and social studies, the ‘methodology of atheism’, have been removed. Instead, children churn out memorised verses of the Qur’an and attend ‘Jihadi Training’, which includes Information obtained from an interview between Noman Benotman and a senior intelligence officer

  •  From August 2015 until February 2016, Quilliam documented 254 instances where children have been used in Islamic State propaganda. These have been organised into the five categories: participation in violence, normalisation to violence, state building, utopia, and foreign policy grievances. Quilliam shooting, weaponry and martial arts. Girls, also known as the ‘pearls of the caliphate’, are veiled, hidden, confined to the home, and taught to look after husbands.

  • The prolonged exposure and desensitisation to violence that children experience affects their physical and psychological well-being, both in the short term and in the long term. Looking to the future, it is inevitable that these children will suffer from severe physical and mental trauma, as well as systematic extremist indoctrination. By coupling in-depth fieldwork with extensive research, Quilliam was able to discern not only what life for children within Islamic State is like, but the extent of the challenge of re-integration to come.

    Based on our findings, the report proposes a thorough assessment process for children who return or escape from Islamic State. This procedure evaluates the extent of radicalisation of the child, their degree of agency in joining Islamic State, the trauma and abuse they have suffered, and the immediate and long-term needs for ensuring effective Disarmament, Demobilisation, Reintegration, and Rehabilitation DDR(R). The recommendations detail a multi-structural support network for monitoring a child’s progress.

(Please see the full report here)

Noman Benotman & Nikita Malik -- Quilliam & The Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative

Written on 19 April 2016.

   Why is Angela Merkel trying to defend her refugee agreement with Turkey? The fact that less migrants and refugees are now attempting to enter Europe through the Balkans does not result from the Merkel-Erdogan agreement. It is simply a consequence of Macedonia and Bulgaria blocking their borders.

   Thanks to the Internet and the media, migrants have quickly understood that Greece has become a blind alley. Many must have realized that they are better off in Turkey where they can move freely and are allowed to find work than in Greece where they are confined to islands and locked up in camps.

   Whenever Erdogan and his premier Davutoglu are boasting how effective their efforts are in blocking the migrants, they are simply free-riders of Macedonia. For obvious reasons, Merkel, too, is happy to maintain the myth that her deal with Turkey interrupted the influx of migrants.

   So far, so good. Let Merkel and Erdogan be happy. Let their respective audiences believe that their deal effectively serves its purpose. For the Europeans it matters little who stopped the refugee and migrant avalanche and how. But that is not the end of the story.

   It is getting ugly because Erdogan and Davutoglu have started blackmailing Europe. By threatening to stop their “collaboration” they insist on obtaining visa-free travel for Turkish citizens by June. Several countries are not happy with abolishing visas, apparently fearing the arrival of millions of poor Anatolian peasants. In all likelihood it is not poor Turks but persecuted and dislocated Kurds who would benefit from free travel to Europe. Apart from the fallout of the current civil war raging in southeastern Turkey it is mostly business people who would benefit from abolishing the painful and humiliating visa rigamarole.

   Although there are good reasons to consider dropping the visa requirements, the way how Turkish politicians are trying to blackmail Europe is unacceptable. Turkey deserves to be given a tough answer: Europe cannot be blackmailed and the Merkel-Erdogan deal is not worth being kept at all cost. Forget Turkey. Greece and Turkey have concluded their own bilateral deal which allows the Greeks to return migrants not asking for or being uneligible for asylum in Greece. That should be enough. No need for Europe to deal with Turkey.

   The focus is now on Libya and Egypt. That is where Europe needs to intervene to stem the flood of migrants from Africa desperately hoping to get out of their miserable situation waiting on the North African coast which is much more dangerous than the camp at Idomeni in Greece.

Heinrich von Loesch

Written on 17 April 2016.

by Dr. Shawki Allam - Grand Mufti of Egypt   

   For Muslims, the Prophet Mohammad is the beacon of mercy, the sparkle of compassion, the spring of wisdom and the perfect guide in their journey towards God.

   Ironically, the fanatics and extremists right now have reduced the prophetic example to a set of rituals, crooked projections and warped logic that runs counter to the true essence and mission of the Prophet.

   They have reduced Islam to slitting throats, burning schools, oppressing women, killing religious minorities, terrorizing and violating the human rights of people in the most blatant manner possible.

   They ignore the Prophet’s example which is extremely well documented and indisputable. They fail to comprehend that faith is ultimately geared towards cultivating a relationship with God and that cannot be complete unless humans adopt the Divine attributes of mercy, compassion and kindness and treat their fellow human beings accordingly.

   It goes without saying that violence of any sort, whether inspired by religious sentiment or vested interests, must be condemned unequivocally and in the strongest terms possible.

This is in keeping with the best of Muslim tradition, which abhors sectarian rife, inter-ethnic conflict, and inter-religious violence. This lesson is best contained in the example of the Prophet Muhammad himself, who was repeatedly subjected to the worst treatment by his enemies, only to consistently disregard these insults and instead take the path of forgiveness, mercy and compassion.

   This is why he is known to Muslims as “the Mercy to all worlds.” Indeed, this example is most succinctly summarized in the Qur’an itself, which instructs believers as follows: “The good deed and the evil deed are not alike. Repel the evil deed with one which is better.”

   The world is sorely in need of such lessons, which represent the authentic teachings of the Qur’an and the Prophet of Islam. It is important to separate these noble messages from those that are bandied about by those who have no competencies in religious interpretation, Qur’anic hermeneutics or the history of Islamic thought.

   Unfortunately, the current state of the Muslim world is such that institutions and structures of legitimate authority have been challenged to such an extent that inflammatory rhetoric has taken the place of thoughtful analysis as a motivator of action and a guide for religious sentiment.

   We are today in desperate need of serious religious leaders who engage the reality of the modern world – complete with its challenges and difficulties – in order to create an environment in which people can coexist. This must be a joint effort from members of all faith groups and cultures.

   A necessary part of any such effort must be a sincere desire to understand what is behind the Muslims’ reverence for the Prophet. For more than 1.5 billion Muslims around the world, the Prophet Muhammad is their ultimate example. He is their reference point and, as the Qur’an explains, “dearer to them than their own selves.”

   Prophets are the means, in the Islamic worldview, through which people have been taught about God. This is no less true for the succession of Prophets that preceded Islam – including Abraham, Moses and Jesus – than it is for the Prophet Muhammad himself. They are revered teachers who taught us the very nature of reality, the purpose of our existence, and how to connect with God Himself.

   As a result, Muslims strive to emulate the example of the Prophet in every aspect of their lives. They seek to inculcate the values in a deep and profound manner. These include, among other things, the ability to confront evil provocations with patience, tolerance and mercy. These are, for Muslims, spiritual values of the utmost importance, and they are best exemplified in the life of the Prophet Muhammad himself.

    A famous story from his life is known to Muslims around the world. One of his enemies was a woman who lived above a street he used to pass daily, and would litter the streets with garbage as he walked past. One morning, when the Prophet was walking by, he noticed no such provocation. His response to this sudden reprieve was to ask after the woman’s health, concerned that she had strayed from her daily routine, as painful as it might have been for himself. The stories of the Prophet’s praying for his enemies, and exhibiting enormous steadfastness in the face of insults and provocations, are legion in Islamic literature.

   This should be the Muslim ideal, there is no doubt. Unfortunately, it is not possible that everyone can live up to the ideal. What is clear is that most Muslim people’s attachment to the personage of the Prophet is undiminished, even when they are unable for their own reasons to live up to the lessons he has taught.