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200 killed as Boko Haram attacks northeastern Nigerian city

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By HARUNA UMAR

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You see Japan? Terrorism is alive and well. Has anyone chimed in here? Nigeria lost 200 in just this week alone. 0 comments / 100% apathy.

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No J, it is because most JTers are more worried about the 2 J guys in Arabia, but what a mess in Nigeria and Boko Haram are just another religion for PEACE???

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Elbudo:

" , but what a mess in Nigeria and Boko Haram are just another religion for PEACE??? "

It is the same religion of peace. Like ISIS; Boko Haram is a fundamentalists Sunni Wahabi outfit; and you can be sure they also receive support from our "friends" the Saudi and Qatari governments.

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More than 200 combatants died Sunday, mainly insurgents, according to soldiers and civilian self-defense fighters who counted bodies

In these dark times, it's good to read something positive!

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It's an obvious if unfortunate fact that terrorist incidents get ranked by journalists in different ways. African lives just aren't as valuable (or maybe "newsworthy" is the better word) than other victims. We saw that in Rwanda, in Darfur and now in Nigeria. The very first al-Qaeda attacks took place in Africa back in 1998, and not much was done in response...until the attacks started coming home to the Western world, that is...

It's sad, but there's definitely a ranking-and Africans are on the bottom. Yet we ignore the billion-plus Africans and their plight on the continent at our own peril!

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Salvor Hardin: It's an obvious if unfortunate fact that terrorist incidents get ranked by journalists in different ways.

And I don't really remember ISIS beheadings being seen as newsworthy til they picked a journalist as subject, then it hit the headlines big time.

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@Salvor Hardin I fully agree with your idea that African lives are hardly valued by the western media, western politicians and in general, western people. It has also been suggested that the Rwandan massacre, which dwarfed anything carried out so far by Boko Haram, didn't hit the news because Christian extremists rather than Muslim extremists were implicated. That wasn't the narrative people wanted to hear.

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Salvador Hardin:

" The very first al-Qaeda attacks took place in Africa back in 1998, and not much was done in response...until the attacks started coming home to the Western world, that is... "

You mean the US embassy bombings in Daressalam and Nairobi? Yes, in Africa, but the target was the US. So what is your point? You are right that not much was (and is) done in response, though.

Jimizo:

" It has also been suggested that the Rwandan massacre, which dwarfed anything carried out so far by Boko Haram, didn't hit the news because Christian extremists rather than Muslim extremists were implicated. That wasn't the narrative people wanted to hear. "

Where did you get that from? The Rwanda massacre was TRIBAL confict of Hutu vs Tutsis. Religion had nothing to do with that. You are correct though that tribal conflicts are probably not the narrative people want to hear.

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@WilliB You surprise me. You usually have a good knowledge of events. The western media, and particularly the US media, took care not to focus on the role Christian churches played in Rwanda. A quick google search will give you plenty of unpleasant reading matter. Here's a flavour from the Guardian:

'Archbishop Vincent Nsengiyumva was so closely attached to the Hutu power structure that for nearly 15 years he sat in the ruling party's central committee as it implemented the policies of discrimination and demonisation that laid the ground for genocide'

'Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka was notorious during the 1994 genocide of 800,000 Tutsis for wearing a gun on his hip and colluding with the Hutu militia that murdered hundreds of people sheltering in his church. A Rwandan court convicted the priest of genocide and sentenced him in absentia to life in prison. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda spent years trying to bring him to trial.'

'They included Father Athanase Seromba who ordered the bulldozing of his church with 2,000 Tutsis inside and had the survivors shot.'

It seems some religious extremists were calling for the genocide from the pulpit as well as taking part. I can't see how you can argue religion didn't carry any blame for Rwanda along with the obvious tribalism.

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Jimizo;

" Archbishop Vincent Nsengiyumva was so closely attached to the Hutu power structure that for nearly 15 years he sat in the ruling party's central committee as it implemented the policies of discrimination and demonisation that laid the ground for genocide' "

I am quite aware that a number of Catholic churches were involved with the Hutu "cause", especially in Hutu dominated areas. But this was politics; not something based on religious doctrine. Or do you recall any shouts of "Jesus is great" accompanying the murders, or claims that Hutu murders go to to paradise? You might also remember the many scenes were Tutsis sought and found shelter in churches. It is really disingenious to compare this with the islamic jihad.

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'It is really disingenious to compare this with the islamic jihad.'

I didn't. If you read my original post, I carefully used the word 'implicated'. I was pointing out a reason why the US media in particular didn't focus on the implication of the Christian church in this bloodbath. I didn't say at any point that it was comparable to Islamic Jihad but I do think it was an utterly disgusting episode and attempts to brush it under the carpet were revealing.

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@Jimizo Because the US has the largest catholic percentage, right? Oh wait, no it doesn't!!!! We've got a Russian invasion to deal with and ISIS to bomb. Poor countries really don't make the cut for intervention. Perhaps you can convince your cowardly country, wherever it may be, to intervene. Not happening? Well then I guess you are just another anti-American ranter.

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scripantheist:

I think jimizo`s country is Great Britannistan with its no-go areas and shariah councils and the BBC which blanks out any image of Charlie cartoons.... nothing to worry about there. So lets instead paint the Hutu-Tutsi war as a Catholic project...

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@scipantheist My home country is the UK. I think the UK has 'intervened' enough around the world over its history.

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