a new jihadist leader?

2015-03-04T14:08:24-05:00

From "Foreign Policy"

http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/27/allah-versus-kfc-egypt-arab-spring-terrorism/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=*Democracy%20Lab&utm_campaign=Democracy%20Lab%20Weekly%20Brief%2C%20March%203%2C%202015

Allah Versus KFC

It must have seemed like a perfectly normal day for 18-year-old Boula Fawzy as he was wrapping up his shift in the KFC branch in the Egyptian town of Quesna. Fresh from high school, he had been forced to work like many young Egyptians in order to help his family. As Fawzy was finishing up in the restaurant in the early hours of Feb. 5, a motorcycle stopped on the street outside and opened fire at the facade. The gunshots were soon followed by Molotov cocktails hurled through the front window. Trapped on the second floor, Boula didn’t have a chance. He burned to death.

Since the start of the year, multinational corporations, foreign-owned banks, and cell-phone companies have become the latest targets in the ongoing battle between Islamists and the Egyptian regime. Credit for the KFC attacks and others — including a multiple coordinated bombing this week in downtown Cairo that killed one passerby — has been claimed by hitherto little-known groups that call themselves “the Popular Resistance Movement” and “Revolutionary Punishment.” Formed by disgruntled Islamist youth who are unwilling to tolerate the status quo but decline to join traditional jihadi organizations, these groups have endorsed low-level violence as a means to bring down the Egyptian regime. For months, similar young militants have targeted police vehicles and policemen with Molotov attacks, cheered on by Muslim Brothers and fellow travelers.

But why have these groups focused on attacking multinational corporations?

Why do Islamists think burning down a KFC would help topple the military regime of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi? Much of the answer lies with an unlikely new theoretician of Egypt’s burgeoning Islamist insurrection, a 43-year-old American (and convicted murderer) named Shahid King Bolsen. When the Popular Resistance Movement took credit for the bombings, it used slogans first popularized by Bolsen.

EDITORIAL COMMENT:- KFC is bad enough, but if they start bombing McDonalds then there will be hell to pay.

Allah Versus KFC

How an unlikely American ideologue is inspiring Egypt’s new generation of Islamic militants.

Response by SGT Jim Z. made Mar 4 at 2015 2:13 PM

2015-03-04T14:13:06-05:00

Just another splinter group just like any other organizes religion.