SOTT Focus:


SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: The Truth Perspective: The Mecca Mystery: The Hidden Origins of Islam and the Salafi-Jihadist Movement

handwritten koran baghdad library
© Middle East Eye/Tom WestcottA hand-written and decorated Quran given to the library by the mother of Turkish Sultan Abdul Aziz
Today on the Truth Perspective we begin our foray into the wide, labyrinthine world of Western Islamic studies, probing the big question of Islamic origins, looking at both the conditions under which it originated and the relation between the violent jihadists today and the religion of the 7th to 9th centuries.

Basing our discussion on Peter Townsend's The Mecca Mystery: Probing the Black Hole at the Heart of Islam and Shiraz Maher's Salafi-Jihadism: The History of an Idea, we take a look at what the historical record really tells us about Muhammed, Mecca, and the principal power players around when Islam began, as well as what modern jihadists truly believe - based on their own theorists and their foundational writings. So if you were ever curious about Islam, join us today on the Truth Perspective for the beginning of a discussion into these complex and controversial topics.

Running Time: 01:44:03

Download: MP3


Magnify

SOTT Focus: War Whores Scramble to Say Syria Attack Means U.S. Troops Must Remain

lindsey graham
A suicide bombing in Manbij, Syria has reportedly killed 19 people including four Americans, two of whom were US soldiers and two of whom worked with the US military. ISIS, which has an extensive history of falsely claiming responsibility for attacks it had nothing to do with, has claimed responsibility for the attack. Despite the fact that ISIS would claim responsibility for a housewife stepping on a Lego block, and despite the complete absence of evidence that it had anything to do with the deadly explosion, all the usual cheerleaders of endless war are pointing to the Manbij suicide bombing and shrieking "See?? Trump said ISIS is defeated and it's not!"

"ISIS is still a very real threat here," CNN international corespondent Clarissa Ward told Jake Tapper from northern Syria. "And the real concern that we are hearing over and over again on the ground, Jake, is that when US troops withdraw, a power vacuum is created, and that only gives them more strength."

Virulent Syria war pundit Charles Lister, who is notorious for praising Al Qaeda and is a senior fellow at the Gulf state-funded neoconservative think tank Middle East Institute, told AFP that this attack invalidates Donald Trump's order last month to withdraw troops from Syria.

SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: The Health & Wellness Show: The Power of Prayer

prayer
© Unknown
For many the power of prayer can heal emotional, spiritual and physical pain and illness. Therapeutic applications like intersessory prayer, laying on of hands, meditation and mindfulness are just a few of the practices that constitute 'prayer'. What, exactly, is a prayer anyway? How do those who 'feel it's power' know it works?

Researchers in the field of 'Neuro theology' argue that evidence supports a direct 'health bonus' for religious and spiritual people. What does the medical literature say about the healing potential of prayer? There have been over 1,600 published articles looking into the topic of prayer and healing. Join us on the Heath and Wellness show as we discuss the power of prayer.

And stay tuned for Zoya's Pet Health Segment where the topic will be pet therapy.

Running Time: 01:07:49

Download: MP3


Quenelle - Golden

SOTT Focus: Has The Yellow Vest Movement Run Out of Gas? - Vincent Lapierre Reports From Paris

vincent lapierre paris yellow vest protest
With the French establishment media under-reporting or misreporting the Yellow Vest protests in France - and with Western media of course following suit - accurate, unfiltered on-the-scene coverage is sparse.

Independent reporter Vincent Lapierre has been 'embedded' with Yellow Vest protesters since the movement began back in November, publishing video reports on his channel Le Média Pour Tous of each of the major Saturday protests in Paris.

The following is his video report from 'Acte VIII' in Paris, which took place on Saturday 5th of January. Click on the captions icon (cc) for English subtitles.

What do you think: is the French government-media complex correct in its assessment that the Yellow Vest movement has 'run out of gas'? Or, at the rate they're firing it at protesters, and their failure to deter protesters from getting onto the streets, will the police run out of gas first?


2 + 2 = 4

SOTT Focus: Still Confused About Brexit? It's Actually Pretty Simple...

brexit protest
Brexit blather is back in the news again. To listen to politicians and media talking heads, you'd think it's all rather complicated and 'beyond the ken of mere mortals'. In reality, however, 'Brexit' is quite simple: for the last two and a half years, the British establishment has been trying to make Brexit go away.

Don't believe me? Explain why, then, that of the 650 UK Members of Parliament, about 70% come from constituencies where the majority of people voted for Brexit, while among all Members of Parliament about 70% have made it clear that they favor remaining in the EU.

In addition, the Conservative government which approved the referendum in 2015 was lead by David Cameron, who has always been against leaving the EU. His successor, Theresa May, who negotiated the pseudo-Brexit deal that would effectively keep the UK in the EU, and which was voted down yesterday by a massive majority in Parliament, is also against Brexit.

So the obvious reason why the last 2.5 years of British politics has been an utter farce, and why the British people find themselves in this current mess, is that while a majority of British citizens voted to leave the EU, a large majority of their MPs on both sides of the aisle (and the British 'establishment' itself) do not want to leave the EU and are determined to make sure it never happens. To claim otherwise would be to suggest that British politicians were as clueless about the nature of the UK's relationship with the EU as the British public. But that's not the full story.

Star of David

SOTT Focus: Why Israel's Airstrikes in Syria Are a Sign of Weakness, Not Strength

israeli jet
© СТАЛКЕР/ZONE
I will proceed from what seems to be an established fact (SANA confirmed) that on the night of January 11th Israel hit one depot at Damascus international airport. I.e., material damage. 12 projectiles were fired in total. Syrian air defences worked, and by all accounts they were as effective as they were in the previous Israeli bombing run (80% accuracy approx.).

Even if Israel had hit two warehouses or a local farm in addition, then it changes absolutely nothing. What the Syrian Army lost can be replaced with little risk; Iran has seemingly supplied the Syrian Army very well and continues to do so at will.

How many times has Israel hit targets in and around Damascus and its airport since 2015? The answer is "many". And each attack resulted in more or less the same thing - small material losses. A few times troops were killed in a couple of cases, but this can hardly be described as large losses (yes, war entails human losses - shocking, isn't it?).

There is some misunderstanding in regards to why Russia sent the S-300 to Syria and upgraded the Syrian Army's air defence network, integrating it into its own network. Like with the S-400, there was the assumption that Israel would never bomb Syria again, or that a NFZ was created.

Bell

SOTT Focus: All Under Heaven, China's Challenge to The Westphalian System

Beijing is tweaking the rules of the Western order to reflect its revitalized geopolitical and economic power, but some Americans see this as a threat to their way of life
china forbidden city
Embedded in the now dominant US narrative of "Chinese aggression", Sinophobes claim that China is not only a threat to the American way of life, but also an existential threat to the American republic.

It's worth noting, of course, that the American way of life has long ceased to be a model to be emulated all across the Global South, and that the US walks and talks increasingly like an oligarchy.

SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: NewsReal #23: It's a Trap! The Left vs Right Paradigm

newsreal left right trap
From 'conservatives' vs 'liberals', pro-mass migration vs anti-immigration, Islam vs the West, and even men vs women, Western society appears to be in a state of increasing social conflict.

Beyond the often legitimate rationale for holding these positions lie foundational and deep psychological differences between human beings, but is it possible that 'someone' is deliberately exploiting them, ultimately against the interests of all?

Joe & Niall also discuss US Sec. of State Mike Pompeo's speech in Cairo, in which he announced a brand new US foreign policy for the Middle East. How different is it from the Obama administration's?


Running Time: 01:13:45

Download: MP3


TV

SOTT Focus: Niall Bradley on PressTV: 'The French People Don't Want a National Debate With Macron - They've Already Made Their Decision'

Niall PressTV Yellow Vests
France has just had its NINTH weekend of revolutionary anti-government 'yellow vest' protests. The Arc de Triomphe in Paris was again the scene of brutal police repression as protesters were kettled, charged, water-cannoned, beaten and fired upon with everything short of live rounds. There were also significant protests against government corruption in cities large and small across the country.

SOTT.net editor Niall Bradley spoke with PressTV - one of only a handful of media outlets covering the events beyond French government handouts - about the authoritarian crackdown against pro-democracy protesters.


Propaganda

SOTT Focus: 'Integrity' Initiative: By all means smear & attack, but at least be honest about it

protest loudspeaker bullhorn
© AFP / GERARD JULIEN
We've all met those people who describe themselves as laid back, when in reality they're just one loud noise from a mouth frothing breakdown. So when something describes itself as having integrity, be wary.

Enter the Integrity Initiative (II), Britain's very own government-funded influence network, which is currently in the process of having its underpants revealed to the world. There's no doubting it's an initiative; the jury's out on the other bit. Some of the people behind it are alleged former spies (can you be a 'former' spy?), a calling not often linked to integrity.

There's a good chance you may not know much about the Integrity Initiative - the mainstream media is not exactly straining to tell you about it. Labour MP Chris Williamson suggests that's because a number of mainstream journalists have signed up to work with it.

The only time II briefly attracted the attention of the mainstream world was when it became clear it had been pushing conspiracies about Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's links to the Kremlin. That's not a good look for an organization which receives cash from the Foreign Office.

Comment: What's really interesting about witnessing the 'Anti-Communist witch-hunt' of our time is that it lends strong corroborating evidence to the so-called revisionist historical research suggesting most if not all previous

See also: