Procrastination Pays Off Now

While trying in recent days to avoid finishing my presentation for next week's Intelligence Summit, I was reminded of this wonderful Demotivator beautifully presented by Despair.com.

Paint Me Paranoid

One of the little convenient features here at Existential Space is the MindViz tracker that can be accessed by anyone at the bottom of the index page. Interested in who might be visiting? I didn't think so, but this morning I noticed one particular visitor who stopped by this morning. The image below is a screen capture of that visitor.

It might be a little hard to read, but someone in Egypt came here after doing a Google search looking for "Patrick Poole images". Now might it be the case that word of my legendary good looks has now gone international? Not likely. So exactly who in Egypt might have an interest in my personal details? One possible explanation might be someone associated with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood trying to dig up dirt to counteract the public pounding I've been giving that organization recently. But that doesn't quite explain why they would looking for a picture of me. Another explanation might be that they were just looking for my fabulous photography. That possibility notwithstanding, I carry my CCW and my .380 in the event that any of my Egyptian, Saudi Arabian, Pakistani, etc. "fans" are looking for more than my picture.

As the saying goes, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they're not out to get you. Yes, paint me paranoid.

More on the Muslim Brotherhood

UPDATE (03/26/07): Welcome to everyone visiting from LGF today! Feel free to stay and look around a while!

Following up on my article this morning at The American Thinker, "The Militarization of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood," here are a few background resources for those interested in more information on the Muslim Brotherhood:

Patrick Poole, "The Muslim Brotherhood 'Project': The Radical Islamist Plan to Conquer the West - and the World" FrontPage Magazine (May 11, 2006) [text of "The Project"]

Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Sam Roe and Laurie Cohen, "A Rare Look at Secretive Brotherhood in America", Chicago Tribune (09/19/04)

John Mintz and Douglas Farah, "In Search of Friends Among the Foes", Washington Post (09/11/04)

Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa A. Lappen, "The Truth About the Muslim Brotherhood" FrontPage Magazine (06/16/06) [Part II] [Part III] [Part IV]

Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa A. Lappen, "The Progress of Hassan al-Banna's Vision" The American Thinker (Nov. 24, 2006)

Lydia Khalil, "Al-Qaeda & the MB: United by Strategy, Divided by Tactics," Terrorism Monitor, Vol. IV, Issue 6 (March 23, 2006)

Adel Guindy, "The Islamization of Egypt", Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Vol. 10, No. 3 (Sept. 2006)

Lorenzo Vidino, "The Muslim Brotherhood's Conquest of Europe," Middle East Quarterly Vol. XII, No. 1 (Winter 2005)

Lorenzo Vidino, "Aims and Methods of Europe's Muslim Brotherhood," Current Trends in Islamist Ideology Vol. 4 (November 2006)

Glen Feder, "The Muslim Brotherhood in France", In The National Interest (Sept. 2005)

Diaa Rashwan, "Islamism in Transition", Al-Ahram Weekly No. 420 (March 11-17, 1999)

Alain Chouet, "The Association of Muslim Brothers: Chronicle of a Barbarism Foretold", European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center (04/06/06) [pdf]

Douglas Farah, "The Little Explored Offshore Empire of the International Muslim Brotherhood", International Assessment and Strategy Center (April 18, 2006)

A Historical Note on the Symbolism of Regensburg

Update: Welcome to everyone visiting today from JihadWatch! Feel free to look around a bit while you're here, and thanks for stopping by. And thanks to Robert and rest of the hard-working JihadWatch staff for the plug!

Update #2 (2/12/07): Welcome to everyone visiting from Jihad i Malmo (Sweden)!

James Arlandson in a blog entry at The American Thinker ("Muslims Rebuke Pope in Open Letter") notes the continuing fallout from Pope Benedict's lecture at the University of Regensburg this past September. As evidenced by this open letter, as well as the Christian churches destroyed and Christian ministers murdered by adherents of the Religion of Peace™ in response (such as the cold-blooded murder of an aged Italian nun in Somalia, shot in the back by the brave warriors of jihad), it seems evident that Benedict's lecture was not well received by Muslims around the world. That said, there are much better equipped commentators out there to respond to this latest salvo.

But I wonder if some of the rage acted on by the adherents of the Religion of Peace™ comes from the deep recesses of the collective consciousness of Islam itself. One historical note lost thus far in the discussion of Benedict's Regensburg lecture is the symbolism that the city of Regensburg represents for Muslims and Christians alike in the history of anti-jihad. Paul Fregosi in his book, Jihad in the West: Muslim Conquests From the 7th to the 21st Centuries (1998, Prometheus), reminds us of two important historical tidbits related to Regensburg (p. 295):

• The first is that during Suleiman the Butcher's push into Europe to lay siege to Vienna in 1529, Regensburg was the place at which his calvary was finally stopped in their advance into the European heartland. As the main body of Suleiman's Ottoman army advanced towards Vienna, his troops massacred, tortured, enslaved and killed Christians all along the way. As his calvary approached the city walls, his soldiers carried on their pikes the severed heads of their Christian victims. The city was defended by only 16,000 troops led by Nicolas von Salm in the face of Suleiman's 250,000 troops. After three weeks of an unsuccessful siege, and the inhabitants of Vienna continuing to hold fast against Suleiman's vast army, Suleiman declared victory, murdered all of his Christian captives, and set about his return to Istanbul with Vienna unconquered, raping, pillaging and enslaving all along the way as is the custom of the Religion of Peace™. The Ottomans would return to Vienna under Kara Mustapha in 1683, only to be vanquished again by John Sobieski, King of Poland (Fregosi tells the whole story of Sulieman's failed siege of Vienna, pp. 285-287, and Sobieski's defense, pp. 343-348). Thus, Regensburg represents the highwater mark of the European conquests of Islam's greatest jihadi, Suleiman the Butcher.


• The second historical tidbit related to Regensburg is that in 1545, it was the birthplace of Don Juan of Austria, hero of the Battle of Lepanto in 1572. Born the illegitimate son of Charles I of Spain, raised in Spain as the anonymous Gerónimo, and finally recognized by his half-brother, Philip II, John resisted the clerical life that Philip had planned for him, and gravitated towards military service. After demonstrating his leadership ability in defeating the Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean, John was appointed as Commander-in-Chief of the naval forces of the Holy League gathered from all over Catholic and Protestant Europe alike to confront the invading forces of Ali Pasha. In fact, Christians were participants on both sides of the battle at Lepanto, as Ali Pasha's ships were powered by Christian slaves and manned by Janissaries. On October 7, 1572, with the Ottoman ships in sight, Don Juan shouted to his men, "We are here to conquer or die! In death or in victory, you will win immortality!" By the end of the day, the Holy League had won by God's grace a decisive victory: the Turks had lost 210 ships and 25,000 Muslim soldiers and sailors, including Ali Pasha, as well as 8-10,000 Christian slaves that drowned chained to their oars. The Christian fleet lost 12 ships and 7,500 men, but freed 15,000 Christian slaves from their defeated and dead Muslim masters. Only bad weather prevented Don Juan and the fleet from striking deep into the heart of Ottoman territory in the Dardanelles. Rising from an ignoble birth in Regensburg would come one of the greatest Christian heroes fighting victoriously against the Ottomans and halting one of the most ambitious expeditions of the perpetual campaign of jihad in history, thus protecting the mainland of Europe. (Fregosi provides even more wonderful detail of Don Juan and the victory of Lepanto, pp. 322-328)

In light of these tasty tidbits from history, one is given to wonder whether Benedict chose Regensburg for its historic and symbolic value in the 1,400 year Christian defense against jihad. By his lecture was he drawing a line in the sand at Regensburg, much like in 1529, and telling the modern day forces of jihad, "Here we push back"? Did his speech reflect a silent prayer for a new generation of Don Juans to push back the Islamic imperialist threat that today threatens to overrun Europe once again? Was Benedict in fact aware of the symbolic value of Regensburg in the history of anti-jihad?

We may never know...