Discover Top Posts Tagged with #edward dark

Edward Dark posted his short film with Andrew Scott: Chasing Cotard. Check out his other works on his My Films page!

#Vimeo #Andrew Scott #Edward Dark #short films

Random Heroics with the Doctor & Eddie Dark

Looking over his shoulder worriedly, the Doctor ran up to the man - kissed him on both cheeks and saluted, "Nice to meet you - maybe we'll meet again sometime - or somewhere... or... both - whatever... uh! Yes! Yes! For tea and cakes - or cookies and tea - or cucumber sandwiches... AND tea," grinning nervously, the Doctor laughed, "I like tea..." smacking himself in the forehead yet again, the Doctor began backing away, "Yes - sorry - leaving, bye - don't tell anyone I was here... unless they're big and ugly and lizardy - then tell them I was here AND which way I went. It shouldn't hurt you - probably - BYE!"

Eddie groaned when his guest decided to leave. Not because he wanted him to go, quite the opposite the thought of the annoying man leaving was very pleasant, but rather because his stupid conscious had decided that until his guest got a hospital, he was Eddie’s responsibility. If there really was a big, ugly lizard waiting to eat this guy’s precious blue box, then he’d probably come for this stranger and lizards weren’t well known for mercy. His guest was clearly an idiot and without some protection or intervention, he wouldn’t last long if this thing he was mentioning was actually out there. Plus, wondering around in the cold was just begging to develop a case of hypothermia, so would need to drag his man back to his cabin if push came to shove. “Hang on mate, I’ll come with you. You’ll need someone who knows the area if you want to find this blue box of yours,” Eddie left the room and picked up his leather jacket, the one that had the built in holster for his laser weapon. He returned to his guest when he content that his weapon was well concealed. “I’m Eddie by the way… Let’s go find your…blue box.”

#time space and chips #random heroics #thread excerpt #thread spotlights #edward dark #eddie dark #the doctor #eleventh doctor #steven who #doctauri

A suicide bomb goes off in a crowded street, targeting an army checkpoint or perhaps a government building. Several soldiers die, a building or two is defaced, but also, almost as an afterthought, a dozen or more innocent passersby are killed or maimed. What kind of people are behind this sort of assault and, more importantly, what kind of rationale do they employ?

More worrisome, perhaps, we should be asking how they continue to draw recruits and expand. Al-Qaeda, and to varying extents all other jihadi Islamist groups, adhere to a culture of death, although they prefer to call it a culture of martyrdom. It is a form of religious nihilism, where this mortal, worldly life is seen as futile and meaningless, and the goal should be to get to the afterlife as quickly as possible.

The quickest route, the shortcut if you like, is to die fighting for your righteously divine cause, preferably taking as many enemy lives with you as you go. In simple terms, it means sacrifice for the greater cause. That’s all fine and well, until you realize that “sacrifice” according to them, extends beyond the fighters themselves and includes anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in the middle of their struggle.

When asked about the indiscriminate innocent victims of their suicide bombings or shelling, your typical Islamist will generally shrug and say, "If they were true Muslims, they are now in heaven," as if they’re performing an actual favor for the victims. They should be thankful, I suppose. So what happens if the victims aren’t "true" Muslims, or members of another religion, i.e., "infidels" in jihadi-speak, a description which in most cases means "anyone who is not one of us"? Well, "Then they go to hell" is the macabre, simple answer you’ll likely get.

What draws fighters to such Islamist jihadist groups are basically what gains them sympathy among the general populace, too. Namely, their overtly sectarian incitement and animosity towards Shia and Alawi Muslims, as well as their discipline and fighting prowess, which importantly includes sparing the private property of civilians from becoming war spoils, something which most other rebel groups don’t even attempt to do. These types of groups are on the rise in Syria’s bloody civil war and have gained notoriety due to a string of high-profile war crimes, most recently in Aleppo, targeting a convoy of civilian buses and executing regime soldiers in Khan el Assal after they had surrendered.

What transformation does one go through to become an extremist? I refer to the story of an acquaintance I met some time ago, Amer Ghajar, who died on July 21, 2013, fighting alongside an al-Qaeda-affiliated group (the Islamic Brigades of Aleppo city) in the Rashdeen area on the western outskirts of Aleppo.

When I met Ghajar, he was an ordinary, bright-eyed young man, just another up-and-coming kid waiting to make his mark on the world. He dressed smart, always had a fashionable haircut and an infectious can-do attitude that came with being so young and so bold. The transformation was quite dramatic. I’d heard of brainwashing and emotional and psychological manipulation, but I’d never really seen it up close. Ghajar studied business at Ebla Private University, on the outskirts of Aleppo province in Idlib. This university was exclusive and was expensive enough to be out of reach of all but the most privileged families. It also had a reputation for anti-regime student protests, and became infamous after Syria’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Hassoun’s son Saria, a student at Ebla, was assassinated just outside the campus mid-2012, and the incident was mentioned at the UN. Furthermore, the former dean of Ebla University, Jalal Khanji, is a prominent civil leader in the rebel held areas of Aleppo city.

It’s hard to say whether Ghajar was radicalized while at Ebla, or whether he met people from the towns surrounding the university, which are all dominated by rebel fighters and their families. Whichever way, his demeanor and the way he talked started to change. He took on a far more serious tone, and dismissed with great contempt the activities that interested his peers. He became more and more secluded, his stare became fixed, and he was constantly brooding. Finally, he grew his beard and hair and started skipping class, then disappeared altogether to join a radical Islamist rebel group.

One telltale sign of this change was an overly sectarian rant he posted on his Facebook page, criticizing fellow Sunnis for running away, instead of fighting against the infidel Shia/Alawi regime. Another sign that radicalization is changing a person’s identity is how he refers to himself and his colleagues. Ghajar used the nom de guerre “Abu Majed.” In traditional Arabic culture, the first-born male is named after the grandfather, and the title Abu+[son’s name], where Abu means ”father of,” is used both for reverence and as a popular nickname, even for unmarried or childless males.

Islamist groups commonly adopt these nicknames, as well as using their real first name and substitute the surname for their city or country of origin. What is interesting is that Ghajar, in his last post on Facebook before he died, makes a reference to his brothers-in-arms by their noms de guerre. “Abu Amara, Abu Bakr, Abu Fajr, Abu Abbas, Abu Fadel. You have broken my heart, I swear I will take revenge from those dogs. May God accept you as martyrs.”

Ghajar used his considerable wealth to finance himself, as well as other fighters in his group, using mostly his own money to procure weapons and supplies. No doubt he received assistance as well as "ideological guidance" from the myriad of foreign cleric-soldiers who have poured into Syria over the last year, much to the chagrin of the opposition abroad as well as local rebel fighters. These newcomers, as well as the continuous and grossly inflammatory sectarian incitement by several prominent Gulf-based religious satellite stations, have helped recruit a new generation of extremists outside the usual lower demographics, and include the educated and rich.

The pro-regime groups celebrated Ghajar’s death as a victory, as he was “squashed” by the Syrian army, because they like to gloat. Pro-rebel groups mourned him like an honorable martyr who gave up everything for an honorable cause, even producing a tributary video for him — complete with typical jihadi chants and propaganda imagery.

What both these polarized groups missed, however, was that Ghajar was just another promising young Syrian, tragically a victim of the madness and bloodshed that has engulfed this nation, tearing it apart and consuming its best and brightest.

#syrian civil war #rdnews #reggie davis #edward dark

How We Lost The Syrian Revolution

By Edward Dark, Al-Monitor (May 28, 2013)

So what went wrong? Or to be more accurate, where did we go wrong? How did a once inspirational and noble popular uprising calling for freedom and basic human rights degenerate into an orgy of bloodthirsty sectarian violence, with depravity unfit for even animals? Was it inevitable and wholly unavoidable, or did it not have to be this way?

The simple answer to the above question is the miscalculation (or was it planned?) of Syrians taking up arms against their regime, a ruthless military dictatorship held together by nepotism and clan and sectarian loyalties for 40 years of absolute power. Former US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford specifically warned about this in his infamous visit to Hama in the summer of 2011 just as the city was in the grip of massive anti-regime protests and before it was stormed by the Syrian army. That warning fell on deaf ears, whether by design or accident, and we have only ourselves to blame. Western and global inaction or not, we are solely responsible for our broken nation at the end of the day.

Nietzsche once said, "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.” That has proved to be very prophetic in the Syrian scenario. Away from all the agendas, whitewashing, propaganda, and outright lies of the global media stations, what we saw on the ground when the rebel fighters entered Aleppo was a far different reality. It hit home hard. It was a shock, especially to those of us who had supported and believed in the uprising all along. It was the ultimate betrayal.

To us, a rebel fighting against tyranny doesn’t commit the same sort of crimes as the regime he’s supposed to be fighting against. He doesn’t loot the homes, businesses and communities of the people he’s supposed to be fighting for. Yet, as the weeks went by in Aleppo, it became increasingly clear that this was exactly what was happening.

Rebels would systematically loot the neighborhoods they entered. They had very little regard for the lives and property of the people, and would even kidnap for ransom and execute anyone they pleased with little recourse to any form of judicial process. They would deliberately vandalize and destroy ancient and historical landmarks and icons of the city. They would strip factories and industrial zones bare, even down to the electrical wiring, hauling their loot of expensive industrial machinery and infrastructure off across the border to Turkey to be sold at a fraction of its price. Shopping malls were emptied, warehouses, too. They stole the grain in storage silos, creating a crisis and a sharp rise in staple food costs. They would incessantly shell residential civilian neighborhoods under regime control with mortars, rocket fire and car bombs, causing death and injury to countless innocent people, their snipers routinely killing in cold blood unsuspecting passersby. As a consequence, tens of thousands became destitute and homeless in this once bustling, thriving and rich commercial metropolis.

#edward dark #al-monitor #long reads #syria #war