Philippines crisis: City of Marawi under siege from Islamic State

[-:Undertaker:-]

https://www.rt.com/news/389452-duter...s-martial-law/

Philippines crisis: President Duterte declares martial law

City of Marawi under siege from Islamic State fighters

Militants affiliated with Islamic State are vying for control of the city of Marawi in the Philippines. President Rodrigo Duterte put the island of Mindanao under martial law, ordered in special forces and cut short his state visit to Russia.

Islamist-extremist insurgents from the Maute group are engaging government forces in firefights and the area, which boasts a population of 200,000, is now on lockdown, according to Philippines authorities.

Local reports indicate the militants have established checkpoints in the city.

Facebook posts by Marawi residents depict photos of fighters, clad in black, moving through streets while heavily armed. Local media reports the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) flag flies over a medical center while other residents are tweeting that buildings have been set ablaze and roads blocked.

President Duterte declared martial law for a 60-day period. Authorities have asked the public not to share any information which could “compromise operational security.”

A government official said in a press conference Tuesday that the whole of Marawi city has been blacked out with snipers patrolling the streets as government troops continue to engage with the insurgents.

President Duterte is cutting short his state visit to Moscow to return to the Philippines.

Wherever it is in the world, it can never live peacefully alongside anything else.

[FlyingJesus]

Proving once and for all that religion has nothing to do with these monsters - Marawi is 99.6% Muslim and not especially lenient about it, and yet still seen as a target for "Islamic State"

[-:Undertaker:-]

Where is @dbgtz; with the usual post on how it must be the Philippines fault for conducting airstr.... oh.

Proving once and for all that religion has nothing to do with these monsters - Marawi is 99.6% Muslim and not especially lenient about it, and yet still seen as a target for "Islamic State"

Proving that wherever Islam is in the world, radical Islam follows.

Religion has EVERYTHING to do with it. Are you claiming Islamic State has nothing to do with religion? Incredible!

[FlyingJesus]

Well yes, if they were truly Muslims, even super duper extremealooper ones, they wouldn't be targetting Muslim countries with military force. It's about power and control, not religion

[-:Undertaker:-]

Well yes, if they were truly Muslims, even super duper extremealooper ones, they wouldn't be targetting Muslim countries with military force. It's about power and control, not religion

If they 'were' truly muslims? They are muslims.

The rest of your post is just as dedicated to denying what this cult really is. You say they wouldn't be targeting muslim countries? They target literally every muslim country that they regard as unpure in their ultra religious doxy. Who is Assad battlng? Islamists. Who has Afghanistan been battling for decades? Islamists. Who is the Saudi Arabian elite absolutely petrified of? Islamists. The majority of muslims around the world are just as and have been a target for this ultra-religious death cult as we are.

Have you ever bothered to even read what they [the Islamists] write about muslim governments?

They seek power and control *because* of their religious view. Not because they want to be carted around in Presidential limos and live in Royal Palaces. Do you not recall that Osama Bin Laden left his very wealthy Saudi family to go and live and fight in caves in the mountains of Afghanistan? They do not care about money, life, love, reason - anything. Their religious vision is everything.

[FlyingJesus]

They're people who call themselves Muslims while flying right in the face of the texts they supposedly adore. These are not people who think they're doing anyone a favour, they're violent people using violent excuses to cause violence. If I called myself a warrior for Buddhism and went around stabbing people in the name of Siddhartha Gautama while proclaiming that anyone who doesn't follow me is evil would I actually be a Buddhist or would I be a nutjob using the name as a rallying point?

[dbgtz]

Where is @dbgtz; with the usual post on how it must be the Philippines fault for conducting airstr.... oh.

I don't really know much on the topic, nor do I really want to look it up right now, but it's an absurd thing to suggest that there can't be different reasons for similar situations. For example, Japan didn't attack the US for the same reasons it attacked China in the 30s/40s. Shocking!

[-:Undertaker:-]

They're people who call themselves Muslims while flying right in the face of the texts they supposedly adore. These are not people who think they're doing anyone a favour, they're violent people using violent excuses to cause violence. If I called myself a warrior for Buddhism and went around stabbing people in the name of Siddhartha Gautama while proclaiming that anyone who doesn't follow me is evil would I actually be a Buddhist or would I be a nutjob using the name as a rallying point?

No because you're clearly not a Buddhist and there's no sect of Buddhism currently in existence that I am aware of that advocates a Holy War - unlike Islam where such a sect does exist and has existed (and grown) over the last century. So no, you being unaware of Buddhism and then calling yourself a Buddhist whilst committing violent crimes isn't in the slighest bit comparable to a theological strain of Islam that originated in the deserts of Saudi Arabia well over a century ago that has tens if not hundreds of thousands of followers around the world who believe it to be the will and word of Allah.

I don't really know much on the topic, nor do I really want to look it up right now, but it's an absurd thing to suggest that there can't be different reasons for similar situations. For example, Japan didn't attack the US for the same reasons it attacked China in the 30s/40s. Shocking!

Interesting, because you always seem so certain when you tell me how radical Islamists aren't attacking us because of religious reasons or for a Holy War, but because we've bombed the poor darlings. Maybe you ought to look into it a bit more then because the Philippines isn't the first surprise example you're seemingly unaware of nor will it be the last. Here's a video to start.

[FlyingJesus]

It had to start somewhere and again it flies directly in the face of their own texts, so entirely comparable. It's simple, look:

Member of ISIS - Claims to be following a religion while ignoring important parts of it that require odd little things like not murdering people
My analogy - Claims to be following a religion while ignoring important parts of it that require odd little things like not murdering people

Lots of people doing something the wrong way for a long time doesn't make it magically the right way, surely you know that