Saudi “De-Terroristing” Program Uses Videogames
Saudi “De-Terroristing” Program Uses Videogames
February 5, 2010
An article in The Telegraph details Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s hope to leverage the influence of Saudi Arabian King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz in order to lure Taliban fighters back into normal Afghan society.
Karzai is banking on the King’s influence among Taliban leaders to realize his plan, which would also require a program to socially reintegrate the fighters. Saudi Arabia already boasts such a program to “rehabilitate” Islamic radicals, which reportedly uses "positive thinking" classes, art therapy and video games.
The U.S. has questioned the viability of the Saudi program in light of a group of graduates of the course returning to terrorism upon completion. In fact, The Telegraph reports that one specific graduate of the program is now a deputy Al-Qaeda leader in a Yemen cell, the same group purportedly behind the attempted bombing of a flight into Detroit on Christmas Day.
Saudi General Mansur al-Turki defended the program:
We are confident in our system. Part of that is the rehabilitation programme, and when we say that we are considering one thing - the results we are getting. We are not giving up because a few people decided to go back and share Al-Qaeda activities.
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JDKJ: AE: Thanks. That cured my head-scratching. They're actually making money the good, ol'-fashioned, American way: stealing it.
JDKJ: AE: Thanks. That cured my head-scratching. They're actually making money the good, ol'-fashioned, American way: stealing it.
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Andrew Eisen: JDKJ - Doesn't appear that it did refuse the ad revenue. "Stingray Sushi says that it already paid for the ad and that a refund is not an option."
Andrew Eisen: JDKJ - Doesn't appear that it did refuse the ad revenue. "Stingray Sushi says that it already paid for the ad and that a refund is not an option."
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JDKJ: What leaves me scratching my head is why any municipality or authority would be interested in refusing advertising revenues while crying that they're flat-ass broke, raising fares, and reducing services. Go figure.
Posted 08/28/10 at 02:38pm
Andrew Eisen: Agreed. If aiming guns in a mildly threatening manner and short skirts are not okay, fine. But you have to be consistent. I've seen too many underwear ads and action movie posters with characters in the same pose not to call BS on this decision.
Andrew Eisen: Agreed. If aiming guns in a mildly threatening manner and short skirts are not okay, fine. But you have to be consistent. I've seen too many underwear ads and action movie posters with characters in the same pose not to call BS on this decision.
Posted 08/28/10 at 02:10pm
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gellymatos: @Dante: Last I checked, you don't do any of what is decribed by the article in the game.
gellymatos: @Dante: Last I checked, you don't do any of what is decribed by the article in the game.
Posted 08/26/10 at 04:28pm
Andrew Eisen: Especially absurd are the spambots that put a lot of time and effort into disguising their spam as legitimate comments, hiding the links in multi-paragraph posts that specifically comment on the story at hand (again, stories from ’09 and earlier).
Andrew Eisen: Especially absurd are the spambots that put a lot of time and effort into disguising their spam as legitimate comments, hiding the links in multi-paragraph posts that specifically comment on the story at hand (again, stories from ’09 and earlier).
Posted 08/26/10 at 04:12pm
Andrew Eisen: Seriously, what are the odds that someone who's actually interested in your spam will stumble across it while reading the comments of stories from well over a year ago?
Andrew Eisen: Seriously, what are the odds that someone who's actually interested in your spam will stumble across it while reading the comments of stories from well over a year ago?
Posted 08/26/10 at 04:08pm
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Andrew Eisen: I don't understand you spambots. Even if our users were interested in clicking on your links, how do you expect them to do so when you bury your spam in the comments section of articles that are over 18 months old?
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Comments
The Saudi leadership (and other leaders of the region) kind of painted themselves into a corner with radicalized religion. By focusing their people on hatred of external entities/nations/cultures/religions, it takes heat off the rulers for poor living conditions. Now it seems that the backlash has caused these governments just as much trouble.
So much irony.....
Never underestimate the power of idiots in large amounts.