WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KILL A COP?

Don't act all offended, just open your mind and read this article, because - all things considered - it asks a difficult question that I have a sinking feeling more and more of us are going to be forced to contemplate in the very near future.

THIS DAY IN PARAPOLITICAL HISTORY - APRIL 11

On April 11 in the year 1775, for the last time on European soil, an individual found guilty of the crime of witchcraft is killed in an official, state-sanctioned execution, in Germany.

On this day in 1868, shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu surrenders Edo Castle to Imperial forces, marking the end of Japan's shogun era and the beginning of the Meiji Restoration. This development came about partly because, after American Commodore Matthew Perry showed up in Japan accompanied by an impressive fleet of technologically advanced warships, Japanese elites collectively freaked out. They hatched a plan to get rid of the samurai class and the feudal, agrarian system over which they presided and replace it with a more forward-thinking oligarchy, headed up by a hereditary figurehead, the aforementioned Emperor Meiji. In less than half a century, the combination of rapid cultural change, techno-fetishism, the sublimation of a disgruntled samurai remnant and increasingly obsessive Emperor worship would lead to some of the most unfortunate chapters in the history of all mankind.

On this day in 1876, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is first organized. They remain one of the leading fraternal orders in the United States, with over one million dues-paying members.

On this day in 1951, less than four months after its theft from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist university students, the Stone of Scone is discovered hidden beneath the altar of Arbroath Abbey in Scotland. The origins of the so-called "Stone of Destiny", which played a minor role in the recent film The King's Speech, is shrouded in mystery. Some claim that it dates back to Antiquity, or even that it is the legendary "Stone of Jacob", the rock upon which the biblical patriarch was resting his head when he was delivered a "divine revelation" from Jehovah, as detailed in the Book of Genesis. But it's probably just a rock.

On this day in 1961, the trial of fugitive Nazi technocrat Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem. After World War II, Eichmann had fled to Argentina under an assumed name, where he worked for Mercedes-Benz until he was identified, located, then kidnapped by the Mossad, who brought him to Israel to stand trial for his central role in organizing the Holocaust. He was found guilty and hanged in 1962, the only person ever to be executed in Israel based on the findings of a civilian court.

On this day 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into existence, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing to individuals based on their race. At the time, pondering the effect this might have on voters in the formerly Democratic-leaning South, Johnson is said to have said: "We've lost them for a generation." It turns out he was way too optimistic.

This day in 2001 saw the ignominious conclusion to the Hainan Island Incident, the first real crisis of Preznit Dubya's heart-breaking White House career. On April Fools Day, an American spy plane had to make an emergency landing on a Chinese island after being bumped out of the sky by a Chinese fighter jet. It was on this day, ten days later, that the 24 American crew members were released by the Chinese government, but not before the White House issued a groveling apology, which they preferred to characterize as "an expression of regret and sorrow" over the death of the Chinese driver... I mean pilot. A coincidence of note is that the American aircraft was a Navy EP-3E ARIES II signals intelligence aircraft, and the incident took place while the sun was in the Zodiac House of Aries. Aries is ruled by the planet Mars, God of War.

And, finally -- last but definitely not least -- on this day in 2002, an attempted coup d'état takes place in Venezuela, resulting in the temporary ouster of President Hugo Chávez. If you relied on Western media to inform you about those infuriating, exasperating, incredibly inspiring days, then you have no idea what happened. I strongly urge you to give your undivided attention to the documentary, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, embedded below. It's one of the most important documents ever produced in terms of its revelations about the the true nature, focus and direction of American policy towards Latin America. Just watch it. From beginning to end. I'm serious. It will infuriate you, and you will never forget the lesson it teaches.

WHO IS FETHULLAH GULEN?

The Man, the Movement, the Gule-Meister!

You've probably never heard of him, but Mohammed Fethullah Gülen is one of the most controversial and divisive - yet profoundly influential - mainstream Islamic personalities to emerge in recent decades. He remains a veritable institution in his homeland, Turkey, despite having fled to Pennsylvania after being brought up on charges of encouraging the dismantling of Turkey's secular government in order to replace it with a state built upon an Islamic foundation. There he remains to this day, in a veritable fortress on a 45-acre estate in the Keystone State's mountainous Pocono region.

Gülen has amassed an estimated $25 billion fortune over the years, most of it from media properties and other investments. However, much of that fortune stems from the vast number of charter schools he has established all over the world. Currently, Gülen schools can be found in 25 of America's 50 states - usually with innocuous names like "Bumblebee Academy" - and the FBI has recently launched an investigation into the movement's suspicious fiscal practices and alleged visa abuse.

Much has been written about Gülen over the years, most of it ridiculously contradictory. For instance, despite its vocal stance against all forms of terrorism, many Western sources have portrayed the Gülenist movement as anti-Semitic and anti-Western, calling it a dangerous proselytizing force that seeks to "Islamize" the Christian West. Socially conservative and far-right periodicals in Europe have gone so far as to claim Gülen is a new Khomeini, devoted to the resurrection of the Ottoman Empire and even the establishment of a global caliphate... a "New Islamic World Order".

The Islamic world sees a very different Gülen. To conservative Islamic public intellectuals, Gülen is an agent of the the Western intelligence aparat, an American puppet, a tool of the Vatican and a Zionist patsy. They see the "kinder, gentler" Islam being preached in Gülenist schools throughout the Middle East and claim it is an attempt to soften or "Christianize" Islam in order to make it more docile, thus rendering the region easy pickings for the Western power elites who are pulling Gülen's strings. 

In Turkey, despite his substantial following, Gülen has enemies on both sides of the fence. Conservatives side with the hard-line Islamist view, while the nation's substantial secularist segment sees this "imam in exile" and his movement as a clear and present danger to Turkey's long, proud history of separation between Mosque and State. 

Meanwhile, Turkey's ruling AK (Justice and Development) Party has fostered close ties with the Gülenist movement, and those who criticize from the secularist perspective are beginning to feel the pinch. In recent weeks, Turkish police have jailed anti-Gülenist journalist Ahmet Sik, raided his lawyer's and publisher's offices and seized every existing copy of the unfinished manuscript of his book, The Imam's Army, much to the dismay of global free press advocates Reporters Without Borders. 

The court order that launched these lightning raids was issued on the grounds that Sik's book was "a document that clearly makes the propaganda of a terrorist organization," in reference to Turkey's hugely controversial and ironically byzantine Ergenekon meta-conspiracy - as dense and complex a conspiracy as your humble bloggist has ever tried to wrap his head around. This, of course, does little to allay fears that much of Turkey's police and judiciary are currently under the sway of Gülen and his cronies.

What does the future hold for Mohammed Fethullah Gülen and the movement he created? Because Turkey is - and for the foreseeable future will remain - one of the most strategically important areas in the world, it is the duty of every concerned citizen to pay attention to what is going on there. Alert readers need not be reminded that Turkey isn't alone in its use and abuse of the "terrorist" label to undermine critics of The Powers That Be. Recognizing this does not legitimize the practice. Rather, it should serve to remind us that these recent developments are not a Turkish problem, but a human problem.

In any case, one thing is certain: Mohammed Fethullah Gülen is a force to be reckoned with, and we should all be paying closer attention.

Friends in High Places...