By Jim ONeill ——Bio and Archives--March 24, 2014
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China is grappling with simmering anger among its Muslim ethnic Uighur minority in the country's remote far west, many of whom openly complain of Chinese repression.
It has blamed Uighur separatists for a string of violent incidents including a coordinated knife attack in the southwestern city of Kunming on March 1 that left 29 people dead. Malaysia has deported at least 17 Uighur Muslims who were travelling on fake passports back to China since 2011. -- Giles Hewitt "Malaysia plane pilots, passengers back under scrutiny" WASHINGTON--In what the Pentagon called a "significant milestone" in the effort to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the military announced Tuesday that the United States had transferred three Chinese detainees to Slovakia. The three were the last of 22 ethnic Uighurs from China who were captured after the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and taken to Guantánamo. -- Charlie Savage, "U.S. Frees Last of the Chinese Uighur Detainees From Guant√°namo Bay" "You kill one of our clan, we will kill 100 of you as pay back." -- Sneha Shankar "Obscure Group From Northwestern China, Chinese Martyrs' Brigade, Claims Responsibility For Missing Malaysia Airline Flight MH370"I have no theory to flog concerning the whereabouts of flight 370, but after having done some research I do lean toward the theory that the "Chinese Martyrs' Brigade" (CMB), or some other radical Uyghur separatist group, played a part in the disappearance of Flight 370.
In recent years, Xinjiang has been a focal point of ethnic and other tensions. Recent incidents include the 2007 Xinjiang raid, a thwarted 2008 suicide bombing attempt on a China Southern Airlines flight, and the 2008 Xinjiang attack which resulted in the deaths of sixteen police officers four days before the Beijing Olympics. Further incidents include the July 2009 Ürümqi riots, the September 2009 Xinjiang unrest, and the 2010 Aksu bombing that led to the trials of 376 people.A "Time" article on the terrorist attack in the Xinjiang city of Kunming earlier this month ("Deadly Terrorist Attack in Southwestern China Blamed on Separatist Muslim Uighurs") notes that:
While the Tibetan campaign for autonomy gets more international attention, Muslim Uighurs have also agitated against what they say are decades of institutionalized repression, such as limits on worship and career opportunities. That resistance movement may be radicalizing.It might be worth noting that the attacks in Kunming, China occurred just over a week before the disappearance of China-bound Flight 370, and that the Kunming attacks were especially bloody and vicious (over 170 victims were slashed, cut, and stabbed--at least 29 of them fatally). Like myself and others, Muslim secularist Tarek Fatah is nonplussed that Malaysian authorities do not take CMB's claims more seriously. Why were the Malaysian authorities so quick to dismiss the claims of the CMB, when the Uyghur population is largely Muslim with overtly violent factions; Xinjiang borders on numerous Muslim countries, and radical Muslims have a rather long and varied history of hijacking passenger planes? I am not saying that the CMB or some other Uyghurian separatist movement is definitely responsible for the disappearance of Malaysian Flight 370, nor do I mean to imply that Uyghurian separatists as a whole were involved. I am saying that I consider it unwise to so quickly, firmly, and rather cavalierly, dismiss the possibility that radical Uyghurian elements were involved in the disappearance of Malaysian Flight 370. I believe that it is worth trying to connect the dots and seeing what sort of picture emerges--nothing more, nothing less.
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Born June 4, 1951 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Served in the U.S. Navy from 1970-1974 in both UDT-21 (Underwater Demolition Team) and SEAL Team Two. Worked as a commercial diver in the waters off of Scotland, India, and the United States. Worked overseas in the Merchant Marines. While attending the University of South Florida as a journalism student in 1998 was presented with the “Carol Burnett/University of Hawaii AEJMC Research in Journalism Ethics Award,” 1st place undergraduate division. (The annual contest was set up by Carol Burnett with money she won from successfully suing a national newspaper for libel). Awarded US Army, US Navy, South African, and Russian jump wings. Graduate of NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School, 1970). Member of Mensa, China Post #1, and lifetime member of the NRA and UDT/SEAL Association.