Let’s see: we know that it couldn’t be that the jihadis think that Islamic texts and teachings justify violence and warfare against unbelievers (and apostates and heretics). And we know it couldn’t be that Sunnis in Iraq were never going to acquiesce to Shi’ite rule, and that ultimately their resentments boiled over into all-out jihad. We know that it couldn’t have anything whatsoever to do with Islam, right? So the problems in Iraq must then be attributable to global warming!
“Hot Zone: Is climate change destabilizing Iraq?,” by Eric Holthaus, Slate, June 25, 2014 (thanks to Elizabeth):
This winter was not a good one for farmers in the Fertile Crescent.
A punishing drought hit most of Syria and northern Iraq during what’s normally the wettest time of the year. In the mountains of eastern Turkey, which form the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, snow and rain were less than half of normal. The region has seen one of the worst droughts in decades.
Drought is becoming a fixture in the parched landscape, due to a drying trend of the Mediterranean and Middle East region fueled by global warming. The last major drought in this region (2006-2010) finished only a few years ago. When taken in combination with other complex drivers, increasing temperatures and drying of agricultural land is widely seen as assisting in the destabilization of Syria under the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Before civil war broke out there, farmers abandoned their desiccated fields and flooded the cities with protests. A series of U.N. reports released earlier this year found that global warming is already destabilizing nation states around the world, and Syria has been no exception.
With the ongoing crisis in Iraq seemingly devolving by the day, it’s not a stretch to think something similar could already be underway just next door.
Could there be a connection between climate change and the emerging conflict in Iraq?
The short answer is a qualified yes, according to Frank Femia of the Center for Climate and Security, a Washington-based policy institute advised by senior retired military and national security leaders. He explained in a phone interview:
It’s far too early, considering this is happening in real time, to figure out what is motivating ISIS and its members. Certainly, the natural resource stresses in the region make things worse. Terrorist organizations can try to control those resources and gain significant influence and power. You can’t say climate change is causing ISIS to do what it’s doing, but it [climate change] certainly has a role to play in the region.
Increasing temperatures may also be playing a role in the recent uptick in violence. A study published last year in the journal Science showed a strong connection between high temperatures and political instability, like civil wars, riots, and ethnic violence, though the cause is not well known. A previous study has linked dehydration with decreased cognitive performance and increased levels of anxiety.
Sure enough, this year has been unusually hot so far in Iraq with the March-April-May season ranking as the warmest on record across much of the country. (Reliable records from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration date back to 1880.) The emergence of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria around the same time may just be an interesting coincidence, but the implications are important enough for us to consider a broader connection….
mariam rove says
you have got to be kidding !!! M
mortimer says
Not so far fetched, M.R. Drought is no joking matter. It’s a tragedy for the Syrian farmers forced to seek handouts in the towns and cities. In the bargain, the Allowite rulers showed scant sympathy. We should send them practical aid, but first they need to stop shooting.
They have self-sabotaged by joining the jihad. There should be a general amnesty for all but the leaders.
Jay Boo says
It is no less plausible than a film cause Benghazi.
Oliver says
A while back, (on another site) there was a report, that archeologist, in a somewhat remote region of India, found evidence that (centuries ago-I forgot how many it was guesstimated as) the area was a sea port.
It seems that CLIMATE CHANGE dried up the water/waterways, and led to the people migrating.
This was CENTURIES before there were cars, plains, etc.
So, what caused it?
Meaning; THE CLIMATE IS ALWAYS CHANGING.
Remember-i beleive the early/mid 19700’s EL NINO caused weird weather patterns.
And, when i was in college, IT WAS GLOBAL COOKING, AND FLORIDA WOULD BE COVERED IN ICE.
These (global warmists) are sickening.
My opinion
CogitoErgoSum says
Yeah, these boys are just hot, hungry and dehydrated. Give them a cold glass of lemonade and a ham and cheese sandwich and just see how much they calm down.
Kepha says
Tell them that the ham is smoked mutton. 🙂
CogitoErgoSum says
Do you think also that perhaps instead of lemonade some camel urine would be more refreshing to them?
Oliver says
Could the camel urine be spiked-say cyanide, or some form of rat poison ( heave doses, don’t want to skimp) and also add some condiments to the sandwwiches? Cyanide or the stuff ( sorry, forgot the name, but is a deadly poison) that is in air bags.
devonoagon says
Leave it to the lefties over at Slate to come up with this excuse. The should also mention that they ran out of pita bread too…
duh_swami says
Is the muddy spring where the sun sets drying up? Does that mean the sun will stop setting?
JIMJFOX says
Like it! Perhaps we should ask allah (for he is all-knowing, wise).
John C. Barile says
Of course! Why, the same phenomenon (anthropogenic global warming) following the Industrial Revolution resulted in the decline of the Ottoman Empire and fueled uprisings against Ottoman rule, don’tya know?
Mirren10 says
Of course, indeed !
And mohammed’s raids on the Jews, and the Meccans, and the mohammedans at the gates of Vienna, etc, not to mention the revolutions of 1848. All down to that rotten ‘global warming’.
John C. Barile says
Forgot to mention those. Of course I already knew that, so there, Smartie!
John C. Barile says
Forgot to mention those. Of course I already knew that, so there, Smartie!
Miss Cellany says
“The short answer is a qualified yes,”
followed by:
“It’s far too early, considering this is happening in real time, to figure out what is motivating ISIS and its members.”
Erm…. Surely they mean:
The short answer is a qualified “perhaps”
?
boakai ngombu says
wow. this explains why there’s so much PEACE in Malmo, Sweden; and Finland; and the Netherlands; and Mongolia; and Canada; and the rainy plain of Spain
could blame climate change on the Allah god of Islam (unknowable; the best of all deceivers), but it is unable to manage even weather, being powerless to fulfill it’s word, unable to save the hapless adherent who hopes for Paradise following the given exemplar Muhammad (lately contrived; full of lusts) with will of being.
Myxlplik says
This violence in the Middle East is due to Manbearpig, according to Al Gore there has been recent evidence of Manbearpig lurking around Syria and Western Iraq… cooincidentally coinciding with an uptick in violence. The evidence is clear, the psychic power of Manbearpig is driving Muslims to quote the Quran and Hadith as justification for violence everywhere Manbearpig is spotted. If you see Manbearpig please alert the CIA as this could be a concern for national security.
Kepha says
Naaaa. This trouble is because Grassmudhorse (草泥马) is now roaming the Middle East. Blame it on the Chinese this time! 😉
Jaladhi says
Amazing morons at Slate!! What do you expect from these libtards – only they can come up with these stupid reasoning. Never accept the truth about Islam – just keep on inventing causes for their jihad – everything else but the religion and teachings of that criminal mafia boss Mo/allah!!
Oliver says
Why do you insult The Mafia?
They are nowhere as violent as Muslims.
(And some also do give charity).
Ashley says
As I bicycled to a job interview this morning, a seagull shat on my head. First time ever. I was devastated. Bird crap is very slick…the glob separated as I tried to remove it, and it just made matters worse.
Thus, the Mideast crisis.
And yet another good reason to wear a helmet when biking…
Kepha says
Uh-oh! Ashley’s post makes It look as if Alfred Hitchcock’s scenario from _The Birds_ is coming to pass! AAAAAAAAAGH!
Sorry for acting like this, folks. But this solemn announcement in Slate actually put me into stitches. As a Christian, I’ve been called credulous and foolish by more people than I can shake a stick at, but somehow, the “modern mind” only has to be told “science says” and it’s hooked. By the way, who is “the modern mind”?
gerard says
“Climate change” by Eric Hothouse.
gravenimage says
Slate: Climate change could have led to the rise of ISIL
……………………………….
Not only is this witless from its conception, but it also doesn’t explain why there is no Jihad in Southeast Asia, Western Australia, or here in California.
More:
It’s far too early, considering this is happening in real time, to figure out what is motivating ISIS and its members.
……………………………….
Oh, I dunno—might it be…*Islam*? Just a stab in the dark, of course…sarc/off
By the way, British PN David Cameron says that “Climate Change” is the greatest threat he faces—and this is in a place where Jihadists are *beheading soldiers in the streets*. What fools these dhimmis be…
gravenimage says
Uh—that would be “PM”. Not sure what a “PN” is…
CogitoErgoSum says
PN = Prime Ninny-ster
Mirren10 says
Nice one. 🙂
Oliver says
P N—Prime Nitwit ?
Prime Nucase?
Oliver says
2nd one Prime Nutcase
( Sorry, the “t” sometimes sticks)
Kepha says
One fine July, I went to visit my sister and her family who were living in England at the time. I spent the month in a turtleneck pullover, and when I went swimming, I felt like a cartoon character who plunges in and comes up frozen in a block of ice.
If you ask me, Old Blightie–much as I love and respect it for what it gave to the world–could use a pretty liberal dose of global warming.
This being said, I found a lot of the Brits very pleasant and hospitable folks, even if they sure speak English funny! 😉
dumbledoresarmy says
You wrote – “Old Blightie–much as I love and respect it for what it gave to the world–could use a pretty liberal dose of global warming.”
So many people – especially those living in chillier parts of the northern hemisphere – respond like that to the prospect of average global temperatures going up by 2 or 3 degrees, say. It’s not so much fun for an Aussie: because our summer temperatures are *already* high and then every degree above that is very unpleasantly perceptible. I assure you: that if the temperature rises from 38 to 40 degrees celsius, or conversely *drops* from 40 to 38, you *notice* damn quick.
I’ll also add that many people see someone talk about changes of a couple of degrees in the global average and think ” pooh! so what! , if that happens the water will be nice and warm at the beach for me”. That’s because most people in the urban western world are *not gardeners or farmers*. Or, for that matter, fishermen. If they were, they’d realize that it *is* a big deal; because an awful lot of natural processes – fruiting, flowering, even what sex some creatures hatch out as – hinge on what look to the layman like *very* small differences in temperature.
IslamDownpressesMankind says
No jihad in Californication? Did you forget the incident at the El Al terminal at Los Angelos International Airport?
TH says
Global warming or climate change as they now call it ha no real scientific basis. Climate is extremely complex and chaotic and almost imposisble to forecast for more than 5 days, much less years or decades. The government is handing out $4.7 billion to so called “climate scientists”, so why wouldn0t they find what the politicains would like them to find. They have ven said that last year’s extreme cold in the U.S was caused by global warming. How about that for absurdity.
Like environamental ism, it is another lefte strategy to do huge damage and waste resources in trying to prevent something that is not happening either at the level they say and in any case is being caused by the sun. Plus since 1998 there is no such thing as global warming. Temperatures have risen and fallen throughout history. Are you willing to take Al Gore’s word for it? Not me.
Alice says
It’s Agenda 21. Most of what they are doing goes back to that.
8 points:
–income redistribution ( think cap and trade, solar and wind power, excessive help to other countries)
–population control (abortion, obamacare, euthanasia, gay movement [no babies there!])
–control our movement (bullet trains and, sadly, even rails to trails, walkable cities)
–education control. After all, knowledge is power (Common Core, and a host of previous programs; federal control of local schools)
–control food (GMOs, price hikes, regulations about veggie gardens and animals in your yard, hunting)
–control water (DNR regulations on dams, streams, ponds you built, rainwater)
–manipulating money system(s)
–open borders, immigration. After all, we will be one big, happy planet (think Star Trek, which was also a tool, sadly) under the UN, and they think they’ll be the boss. They are in for a rude jihadist awakening…
It’s all on their website.
Alice says
Forgot the most important point:
–Destroy Christianity, Judaism, and western civilization (their main obstacles)
Lorna Salzman says
The left denies jihadist terrorism and the right denies climate change…a marriage made in hell. It’s amazing the lengths the right will go to deny the
evidence staring then in the face. It’s equally amazing the lengths the left will go to deny the religious roots of jihad and terrorism. Both suffer from a binary
ailment: ideology and anti-intellectualism. They prefer the gossip and
conspiracy theories of their peers to facts and events on the ground and in their face. Read the comments on climate change on the right wing blogs like
FrontPage and American Thinker, and then read the comments on Islamism on the equally demented Loon Watch or truthdig (the latter courtesy of that
mentally deranged Christian socialist/plagiarist Chris Hedges, successor to
Noam Chomsky) and you’ll see why this country is being ruled by those with
IQs below 70, i.e. morons. And anyone still enrolled in the Democratic Party is
part of the problem….or the Tea Party. Or Republican. Or who reads The Nation.
John C. Barile says
Don’t think you unnerstan us Righties logic. I mean if we got global warmin an all so’s we got permafrost meltdown why then dont we take all that methane gas an ship it down here to run our ACs?
John C. Barile says
No, I’m not mocking you.
John C. Barile says
I man, ridiculing your point of view.
John C. Barile says
“i mean, ridiculing your point of view.”
dumbledoresarmy says
Lorna
I see *exactly* what you are getting at.
PS – if you’re the brilliant lady who came up with the “Are YOu an Islamophobe?” quiz… I would like to take this opportunity to thank you.
I have been reposting it regularly in this forum, because it does not date.
Lorna Salzman says
Yes, I wrote that and thank you so much for liking it and distributing it. I
suspect many people, if not most, don’t “get it”. That’s a big problem!
I actually published it as a paid ad in (choke)The Nation a couple of years back.
I am kind of proud of it. Thanks again!
Oliver says
Many people, ESPECIALLY THE LEFTISTS recall President Eisenhower’s farewll address, where he warned against the military -indistrial complex.
BUT THEY IGNORE (OR NEVER KNEW) HSI SECOND WARNING.
It was AGAINST government funding of scientists–because, said President eisenhower, ” THE SCIENTISTS WILL COME UP WITH THE ANSWERS THAT THE GOVERNMENT WANTS”.
That was oin Jan. 1961, that Ike said this.
Jay Boo says
And Islam really is an ‘Abrahamic religion’
—– If Abraham were a Muslim he would have butchered his son non-stop halal style in an honor killing bloodbath no matter who told him to stop.
—- Mohammad really did fly to Jerusalem to ascend to heaven even though he turned his back to Jerusalem after slaughtering the Jews of medina
Alice says
idiots!
I heard Sting on *NPR* a year or so ago. Guess he has some sort of astronomy degree (something like that). On NPR, of all places, he said that climate change has more to do with solar winds and flares. Nothing we are doing really reaches way out there.
They just can’t keep their stories straight.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
After 18 straight years of global cooling, it’s getting hard to peddle the global warming scam.
Alice says
Forgot the most important point:
–Destroy Christianity, Judaism, and western civilization (their main obstacles)
ApolloSpeaks says
AGW DENIERS ARE WORSE THAN NAZIS AND ISLAMIC TERRORISTS
They want to turn the earth into one vast death camp. A planetary crematoria incinerating all life forms./sarc
ApolloSpeaks says
WHAT IS CATASTROPHIC GLOBAL SCORCHING?
Click my name for the only scientifically valid global warming catastrophe that drives climate change leftists (with their apocalyptic science fiction fantasies) nuts.
Tibor says
The best comment on Slate is:
“Global warming might be affecting the rational processes at people working at Slate. You might want to open a few windows. You all are clearly breathing your own fumes.”
On how Slate’s reader are less stupid than the brain washed journalist who wrote this paper.
Brian of London says
I had a great deal of fun calling Tom Friedman out on this nonsense when he gave a talk in Jerusalem a few months ago.
http://www.israellycool.com/2014/02/02/braving-droughts-and-floods-to-see-thomas-friedman/
Extract:
So by some miracle I got to ask the first question.
I started by saying there was a very old book I remembered reading and it spoke of droughts, many, many years ago in this region including at least one that lasted more than 7 years! In light of this isn’t it just possible that we can’t really be sure that the latest 4 year drought is really man made.
Friedman launched off into a pretty standard defence of the widely discredited man made global warming theory throwing in the usual gems like “I’m not a scientists but I’ll believe the 99% of scientists”. He even mentioned floods, at which point I shouted back that the really old book also had a section on a big flood that hit the region long before man invented the internal combustion engine.
All in all there’s not much to be done for a lost soul like Friedman. He’s bought the lies, the issue is who’s going to look stupider in a few years when the whole global warming/climate change scam is seen for what it is.
ndb says
So no matter what happens, it’s still W’s fault.
The low information crowd loves to gobble up this tripe. Too bad Steinbeck isn’t around to write ‘The Syrian Grapes of Wrath’.
gravenimage says
Yup—although I don’t recall the Joads and their fellow Dust Bowl refugees invading California and turning it into a new Caliphate, or lining the streets of Bakersfield or Modesto with the severed heads of their victims…
John Magne Trane says
This is established science. Evere statistic student knows that with the decrease of the number of storks in Denmark in the 1900s, the correlation with the similar decrease of the number of births in that country is too obvious to ignore.
For the ignorant.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
This is a special moment, in which one the world’s foremost frauds intersects the other. But, while it’s a sure thing to bet on the weather changing, it’s getting harder to sell the idea of reasonable Moslems. We stagger from Bill O’Reilly waving his hand and pronouncing that most of them are regular people and fine Americans, to having to hear Hannity talk about extremists and radicals. In comparison, a dash of scientific fraud is easier to take.
duh_swami says
Kelly, Hannity and Bill O, all talk out of both sides their mouths about Islam, jihad etc. When they start that crp, I turn to Ancient Aliens. Or Judge Judy, she’s crabby, but she does not lie.
duh_swami says
Somehow we have to stop the climate from changing. It changes around here every few minutes. That’s really scary. Sometimes it changes a lot, and rains or even snows, when you had planned a picnic at the park.. I have seen a clear sunny day, and a clear night and the ground covered with snow in the morning. That;’s global cooling, then the sun comes out and melts the snow, that’s global warming. if we could figure out a way to stop that, we would have perfect weather all the time.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
And it’s a cold comfort that Moslems do *not* change. There’s no evo with them, they’ve been plying the same self-serving jive since the Holy Prophet flew the black flag, riding from unprovoked attack to unprovoked attack. Always the same with them.
BW022 says
I’m tired of people claiming causes without demonstrating a proven causal factor. So… if Iraqi farmers have bad farming crops… therefore terrorism is the obvious result?
Do American, Canadian, Brazilian, Mexican, Russia, Tibetan, etc. farmers immediately resort to terrorism if they have a bad crop? No. Do Kurdish farmers resort to terrorism upon having a bad crop? Is there some study in the world linking bad crops to terrorism? We have at least a thousand years of good crop statistics… that would be an interesting statistic to have escaped notice.
Is there any logical path from a bad crop to terrorism? Wouldn’t… working harder, planting different crops, finding other work, etc. be a more logical thing to do for those with bad crops? If this link is so strong between bad crops and terrorism, why didn’t someone predict this? Why has no one ever picked a random country without a history of terrorism likely to fact a bad crop and then successfully predict the rise of terrorism over the next year?
Unless the author has some proof that bad crops generally leads to terrorism… then the best you could say is Muslims with bad crops leads to terrorism or Iraqis with bad crops leads to terrorism. Even those, one would need to look at historical comparisons to Muslims or Iraqis with good crops and terrorism.
IslamDownpressesMankind says
Did Kurds not enthusiastically slaughter/enslave Armenian and Assyrian Christians alongside their muslime brethren in Armenia?
John C. Barile says
Generally, no. Not nowadays. They suppressed Mullah Krakkar’s Ansar al-Islam, comprised of Kurdish jihadists. They protect Christians, Yazidis, Mandeans. Autonomous Kurdistan has a secular government.
John C. Barile says
Yes, they were complicit in the Armenian Genocide.
voegelinian says
A degraded education that no longer instills the basics — such as Aristotle’s four types of causation. Eric Holthaus of Slate might be able to argue that climate-cum-geology figures as one part of the material cause and of the formal cause of the sociopolitical disorder & disease of ISIL; but he cannot make a case for identifying it as either the final cause or the efficient cause.
Meanwhile, an excellent case can be made for identifying Islam as figuring prominently in all four causes — and certainly as the paramount factor in the latter two.
http://hesperado.blogspot.com/2012/11/aristotles-4-causes.html
wildjew says
This is the left’s Godless religion; man made global warming.
David says
A DJ in Sydney has been dumped for calling the false prophet Muhammad a paedophile. Once again we see the truth being off limits. All he says is that according to the Muslim’s own teachings, Muhammad married Aisha when he was 54 & she was 9, which technically makes him a paedophile. Everyone here at JW knows, the Muslims themselves know this. Unfortunately it was too much for the DJ’s boss, who thinks Muhammad is a “deity”. The boss needs some education I think.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/shock-jock-michael-smith-dumped-over-prophet-slur-20140628-zsplg.html
voegelinian says
Interesting glimpse into the writer of this Slate piece, Eric Holthaus (from a FOX news report almost a year ago):
Have you ever suffered an environmental meltdown? If yes, you may be able to relate to meteorologist Eric Holthaus. He tweeted about his breakdown after reading the United Nations climate report.
Holthaus vowed never to fly again, before boarding a plane. He tweeted: “I just broke down in tears in boarding area at SFO while on phone with my wife. I’ve never cried because of a science report before. #IPCC”
Greg Gutfeld reacted in his monologue on The Five today, saying, “Someone should tell him that planes are better than driving, as their nitrous oxide causes cooling by ridding methane in the air. But hey, he says he’s the expert.”
“I’m calling BS on this drama queen,” Gutfeld said. “This is what dooms environmentalism – dishonest hysterics who put drama before data.”
http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/09/30/meteorologist-eric-holthaus-quits-air-travel-over-un-climate-report
voegelinian says
More on this and more here:
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/meet-eric-holthaus-the-rebel-nerd-of-meteorology-20140212
Apparently, Holthaus had his airport meltdown because his special app he developed “that would bring quality forecasts to underdeveloped countries suffering from climate change-related storms” was not being properly funded by the organization he had teamed with.
Another interesting paragraph, from the second link:
Holthaus, 32, has made a name for himself (“the Rosa Parks of climate change,” according to one fan, or as the Awl put it, “America’s weather-predicting boyfriend”) through a lively Twitter feed and even livelier articles for Slate. He covers everything from super typhoons in Hong Kong to walking conditions in Atlanta, tying it all back to the warming planet – which is something many of his colleagues refuse to do. Amazingly, according to one study, nearly half of all US meteorologists don’t believe that humans are the cause of climate change. Holthaus has met this contingent at conferences. “The crowd is like 1980s military uniform-type people,” he says. “They’re prominently conservative Republicans in positions of power, and they want to push the message they believe, politically.”
The bolded part was linked (rather surprised a Rolling Stone article would include that; but I suppose they thought that it was a nice set-up for their fellow traveler to knock down):
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/forecasting-denial-why-are-tv-weathercasters-ignoring-climate-change-20121205
David says
Another honour killing brought to the world by the pious Muslims in Pakistan.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/pakistan-family-slits-throats-of-young-couple-over-love-marriage-20140628-zspp7.html
Geppetto says
Blaming Islam is so obvious and so ghosh. It requires absolutely no intellectual perception, no convoluted examination, no nuanced, thought provoking analysis connecting the greatest looming tragedy, the end of the world as we know it from global warming and the sorrowful human tragedy suffered by these poor souls that drives them to commit this horrific but understandable brutality on their compatriots.
Eric would probably get an A for this nonsense if submitted as a term paper in whatever institution of higher learning is his alma mater.
Matt says
Evil Kneivel couldn’t make that jump, but liberals can!
rabrooks says
Aside from being pshychotic, drugged-up, merdous, rapists, pedeophiles, I dunnooo. Hummmm……..Maybe….they’re in the desert? Could that be it? Just maybe. But nooooooo! Couldn’t be that. Then what’s lleft? It can only be one thing……..America! We are the reason they have no food, industry(for peaceful purposes), stable national or regional borders, or government.
Oliver says
I thought that this was all ISRAEL’S fault.
Didn’t Iran, that epicenter of intellectualism (where they claimed squirrels were Mossad agents; the Marlboro Man was a Mossad agent etc) blame Israel for their drought a few years ago?
If not Israel, or the Jews (in general and total) then the Zionists.