 with Salaman Rushdie. For those of you who don't know who Salaman Rushdie is and don't know the history here, Salaman Rushdie is a well-known author, best-selling author. He's one of the most famous, probably, novel writers of the late 20th, early 21st century. He published his first novel. There was a big success in 1981 and in 1988 he published a novel called Satanic Verses. The novel imagines a modernized Muhammad. It presents a certain view of Islam that many Muslims found offensive. Indeed, Salaman Rushdie, who was born in India to a secular Muslim family, and I think has stated that he himself is an atheist, but grew up secular, but found a Muslim background. The book was first banned in India of all places and then abandoned in almost all Muslim countries. In 1989, the Ayatollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran, issued a fatwa. A fatwa is a declaration of law, declaring, basically putting a price on the head of Salaman Rushdie, declaring it a an apostle, an enemy of Islam, and putting a price, I think was three million dollars, three million dollars on his head. What's interesting is the fatwa, this has never been rescinded. The supreme leader of Iran, the current supreme leader of Iran, it's a different supreme leader, has not rescinded that. And apostate, not apostle, thank you, apostate, an infidel, and apostate. Apostate is worse. Somebody is born Muslim and returns against the religion is the worst for them. Indeed, a foundation that is linked to the authorities in Iran that's linked to the to the administration, even though so-called the government has distanced itself from the fatwa. Fatwa has never been rescinded. And since then, it's been increased. A foundation and Iranian foundation has increased the fatwa by half a million dollars. It's I think it stands right now three and a half million dollars off anybody who kills Salaman Rushdie. You know, this is while this fatwa was was delivered by a Shiite authority and by the Shiite government, you know, supreme leader of Iran. This is a fatwa that was picked up by Sunni Muslims as well. It was a fatwa that was that has animated many Muslims for a very long time. You know, a little bit of a history when when this fatwa came out in 1989, it not only put a price on the head of Salaman Rushdie, but it also basically was a death warrant, in a sense, to anybody who had anything to do with this book. So publishers all over the world, translators, and anybody who publicized the book, advertised the book, tried to sell the book, booksellers, and so on. Even in New York, the publisher of Salaman Rushdie's English Trans, I guess, American publication of The Satanic Versus was sent threatening letters, letters to threaten the lives of the publisher. And a couple of bookstores in in New York, if I remember right, were firebombed because in their front windows, they carried a version of The Satanic Versus. At the time, George Bush Sr. was president, and the response of George Bush was basically to do nothing. John reminds me, but yes, I'll just just give you a little bit more background. The Japanese translator of The Satanic Versus was murdered, knife stabbing, again, because of his association with that. And let me just see, I thought there was one other event that I wanted to highlight. Yeah, so and again, publishers have been threatened. The Norwegian publisher was shot and seriously wounded in the early 1990s. So the Japanese translator was stabbed to death also in the early 1990s. So this is not theoretical. This is not just, you know, you're not somebody says, yeah, you should die. No, this Muslims all over the world took this seriously. Salaman Rushdie himself, himself has been attacked in the past. For nine years, he went basically into hiding, not disclosed at no public events, was hidden away probably somewhere in the UK. He's a citizen, both of the UK and the United States today. But I was saying that the Bush administration at the time basically did nothing. It, you know, ignored the Fatwa. Basically said something to the fact of, and this is true of the Muslim cartoons later on, Bush Jr. said the same thing. Basically said something to the extent of, yeah, you really shouldn't insult religion. It really isn't a good thing. We protect free speech and we believe in free speech, but you really shouldn't do it. I mean, you really shouldn't defend religion. It's not nice, right? This is the Bush administration, right? Tough, the tough British Bush administration. At the time, the Armenian Institute and Lena Peekoff put out a full page ad, I think in the New York Times, full page ad denouncing the Bush administration basically viewing this as viewing the attitude as a betrayal of the First Amendment. The First Amendment, I believe, requires demands of the government to protect us from threats against our speech, from violence against us in a sense by threatening the book publisher, the American book publisher, put aside at the time, I don't think Salman Rushdie was an American citizen, but the book publisher, certainly was, is basically an act of war by the Iranian government. The Iranian government threatened US citizens. It threatened American citizens. And as such, that in and of itself was an act of war that Lena Peekoff at the time said that, you know, the United States was cowardly and was defaulting on its responsibility to protect the First Amendment. Okay, it's it. Mark says the New York state trooper just said the name of the stalker is Hadi Matar. Matar, very likely Muslim, you know, would be interesting if he's Iranian or just just Muslim or broadly. And yeah, I'd be interested, I'd be interested in knowing what the relationship there, what the relationship there actually is. So it's difficult to do these shows on a laptop. There's just so much going on in the screen is. Yeah, but but notice this that state, the trooper also said there's no indication of a motive at this time. Rushdie is still in surgery. That's not a good sign that it's still in surgery. Okay, so Hadi Matar, how to tell what kind of a name that is, maybe somebody can Google the name and see if there's any indication of the origins, but no indication of a motive at this time. I mean, really, the guy didn't provide you with a motive, didn't say why he did it. I'd be surprised. So Rushdie has been in hiding, but about nine about, you know, so that was he had basically from 1989 until the late 1990s. And then he came out of hiding and he said, look, I'm not willing to live in fear. I mean, he was he took a very courageous position. He said, I'm not willing to live in fear. I'm going to live my life normally. I'm going to do public events. I'm going to continue to write books and continue to live. And I won't let these people cower me. And he continued and he continued to speak out against the violent Islamists. He was outspoken after 9 11. I've got this, you know, quote from him about free speech. He says, nobody has a right to not be offended. The right doesn't exist in any declaration I've ever read. If you offended, it is your problem. That's Solomon Rushdie. And I agree completely, obviously. So, you know, Rushdie has in the early days, I think in the 2000s, particularly after 9 11, and particularly when the Danish cartoons came out and Charlie Hebdo was attacked and there was a lot of violence against people who spoke up against Islam. Rushdie used to show up in public events with significant security. But I'd say the last 10 years or so, maybe less, he's dropped the security. And at this event, in I think it's upstate New York, he had no security. I mean, there was one security guard there, just a kind of a regular public event security guard. I don't think there was a security detail assigned to him. I don't think there were any particular security measures taking at the event. I doubt bags were checked and things like that. Metal detectors, things like that. And it looks like he was seated, being interviewed by the host. And this guy just jumped out. He had something over his face. I don't know why he was trying to hide his face because he was going to get caught. But he jumped up from his seat, ran onto the stage before anybody could stop him and just started stabbing at Rushdie. He got a number of stab wounds to the neck, which is pretty bad, depending on how deep it went. And the assumption is he's lost a lot of blood. But he's been in surgery for a long time. So there must have been some real damage done there, also to the chest. So while he was alive, breathing, he had a pulse when he was put on the helicopter and flown to the hospital. Let's hope, all we can do, I guess, is hope that he will survive this and survive it whole without any permanent damage, but truly horrific, a horrific attack by what appears to be somebody fulfilling the fadwa, living up to the fadwa and acting on it. This has been a real problem with Islamism since 1989. The thing is that they think they can get away with it. They think they can get away with it. We see it over and over and over again. So Rushdie was really only the beginning. But you saw it when the Danish cartoons came out. And why do I say they think they can get away with it? Because the Muslim world went crazy. They burnt buildings. They killed people. They destroyed property all over the world, particularly in their own countries, but all over the world. They threatened the cartoonists, some of the cartoonists that are actually being attacked. And most almost no American newspapers would show the Danish cartoons. And the Danish cartoons were condemned. Again, George Bush Jr. said he shouldn't offend religion. He wishes they hadn't done it. It really isn't appropriate. So in a sense, taking about violence is inappropriate and so on. Weak, oh God, so weak, so pathetic, so ridiculous. And as a consequence, I think they continue, the Muslims continue to be, the Islamists continue to be emboldened. For years, the publisher of the Danish cartoon would travel with massive security, with significant security, to protect him. I think he's dropped in the last few years the security, maybe now with the stabbing of Solomon Rushdie, he'll bring security back. But it really is, it's been horrific. And then of course, and then of course, you got the, you got the in 2015, it's not that long ago, you got the murder of the cartoonists in Charlie Hebdo, again, because they dared to draw cartoons of the, you know, of the, of Muhammad. So what has the West done as a response? Nothing, coward, right? So I remember when Charlie Hebdo happened, and millions of people went out on the streets in Paris and was that, I am Charlie Hebdo, they all, you know, had this chant, I am Charlie Hebdo. And they made a big deal out of them being Charlie Hebdo. How many of them published the cartoons on their Twitter and their Facebook pages? Almost nobody. How many American magazines, newspapers that put out, yes we, Charlie Hebdo. How many of them published the cartoons that got the cartoonists in Charlie Hebdo murdered? None of them. How many actually supported the right to offend Muslims? Almost nobody. And have any Western governments come out forcefully in protecting our right to offend Islam? No. No. So we basically send a message to the Muslim world that we will be coward, that their religion is beyond criticism, that we are willing to let them rampage, let them kill, let them murder, let them threaten, let them fire bomb, let them jump on stages and stab people. And yeah, we'll punish the perpetrator, the direct perpetrator, the immediate perpetrator. But we're not going to inflict any significant cost. We're not going to blame any beyond the particular specific individual. We're not going to defend ourselves against states that promote this kind of terrorism, states that promote this kind of barbarism, states that actually encourage it by giving rewards to people who are engaged in this violence. And as the United States, as leader of the West and the rest of the Western world, has encouraged the perpetuation of this idea that offending Muslims is wrong, that offending Islam is punishable, and that it's okay, or at least not okay, but at least we're not going to get too upset with Muslims who try to raise up arms to so-called defend their profit. So anyway, it's a real tragedy. It's a tragedy that was to be expected. It's a tragedy in a sense that Leonard Peacock in 1989 saw coming. It's a tragedy that could have been avoided. It's a tragedy that I think brings to the forefront the, you know, just the pathetic, the unprincipled nature of the American government and its willingness and ability to protect the individual rights of Americans. You know, what should have America done? I mean, basically it should have said to the Iranians in 1989. Now remember, in my view, Iran was at war with the United States in 1989. It had gone to war in 1979, when they took the American embassy. That's an act of war. They spent the 1980s killing Americans. They killed 244 Marines in Beirut in 1983. They then kidnapped Americans all over the Middle East and killed them during the 1980s. Iran was in a state of war with the United States, but America pretended like nothing was going on, that there was no problem. There was no issue. What should have happened is the United States should have told the Iranians you have 48 hours to ascend this fatwa. You will not threaten the lives. You will not threaten the property of American citizens. And if you do, you know, you will be destroyed. And you know, if they hadn't, then you bomb the hell out of the the residency of Khomeini. I'm a big supporter of, you know, there's this attitude that you don't go for the heads of state. You don't kill heads of state. You don't. I mean, I would have gone after Supreme Leader, try to kill him. I would have destroyed the entire religious infrastructure of Iran. There's a whole city dedicated to the study of religion. Homs in Iran, they could have destroyed that city. They could have destroyed every government building in Iran, particularly in 1989. Iran was particularly weak. There's very little they could have done about it. But instead, instead, we did nothing. And I think today's event is a direct consequence of that. And it's sad because not only is it sad because Solomon Wooshti is being attacked and might be might be killed. And my general assessment of Wooshti is he's basically a good guy and certainly doesn't deserve this and whose rights should have been protected. But more than that, it emboldens Islamic terrorism. We, you know, maybe it's been relatively quiet the last few years. But you know, the Charlie Hebdo is not that long ago. It was 2015. So it's only seven years ago. You could see other events like that. You could see an event like this, the stabbing of Wooshti emboldening more people, more nuts, you know, Islamists, Islamic fanatics to do this, to become more violent and to engage in more violence. The terrorist infrastructure has not gone away. There are plenty of them out there. Somebody here says on the chat says that the perpetrator is a Shiite Lebanese, which is which would not be surprising. Remember that the Shiite Lebanese are the allies of the Iranians. The Iranians are big funders of of Shiite Islam in Lebanon. They are supporters of Hezbollah. Hezbollah is the Shiite terrorist group that is based in Lebanon. Hezbollah is the terrorist group that actually with Iranian support, funding, training and everything else, they're the ones who executed the attack on the on the Marines barracks in Beirut in in 1983 that killed, I think it was the 244 Marines. I think that's the right number. So you know, when we say it's not surprising, that it would be somebody from Lebanon. It would be interesting to see if he has links to Hezbollah. It would be interesting to see if there's kind of a chain of command, if this is something that that got approved from above or just an individual just lashing out. Well, I mean, an individual lashing out with dangling three and a half million dollars for his family, probably dangled out there by the Iranian regime. So, you know, truly just, you know, just horrific. And in tragic and sad, just sad, sad that this can still happen. Sad that it's not surprising that it happened. Sad that this will not change anything. You know what will change? You know what else? You know what the conclusion of this will be? What's the conclusion going to be? What are they going to say? What is the vast majority, pretty much everybody, is going to say is a lesson from the stabbing? What's the lesson? We shouldn't tolerate Islamists. We shouldn't tolerate Iran. We shouldn't tolerate threats. What is the lesson? I mean, the lesson, I think it's obvious that the lesson that will be drawn from this is we need more security. We need more security. We're not going to do anything about the people who are actually responsible for this. We're not going to do anything about the people behind this. We need more security. It's Solomon Rusty's fault because he stopped taking security to talks. He should have been surrounded by five people. And it's it's our fault for not providing with the right kind of security. We'll blame ourselves. And and of course, you know, people will still say, you know, he really shouldn't have written that satanic verses and maybe should have stayed quiet since then. You know, when he was hiding, he was quiet and maybe things were safer then and just, yeah. But more security and less offending, less offending Islam. That's, that's what the lessons learned off in this. And that is truly horrific. It'll be really interesting to see if if Rushdie dies. And I hope he doesn't. But if he dies, it'll be interesting to see one, what is the American government's response going to be to the paying of the 300 and three and a half million dollars fatwa? What will we do when that money is actually paid? Would we then place the responsibility with the entity that's paying the money as a hit, right? They're paying for a hit. And second, what will they do if a Hezbollah connection or any kind of collection to Iranian intelligence or any kind of connection to to Iran or to or to the Hezbollah is found. It's also interesting to point out that over the last few weeks, two other major opponents of the Iranian regime have been attacked and assassination attempts have been attempted on them. One is a woman whose name I don't remember right now, who's been a very critic, a big critic of the Iranian regime. She's she's somebody who who escaped Iran and is in the United States. And she survived an attack and attempted attempted assassination on her. And then the other one is somebody you guys all know. And many of you hate because Donald Trump doesn't like him. And that is John Bolton. I don't know if you read this story, but John Bolton about a week ago, the FBI announced that they had arrested an Iranian, an Iranian linked to the supposedly linked to the Iranian secret, the Iranian security services arrested him for an attempt for an attempt to assassinate John Bolton. So is this a new attempt by the Iranians? Is the Salman Rushdie part of this? Is then a push by the Iranians right now to stir things up in the United States to get rid of their opponents? I think he was going to, was he going to assassinate Mike Pompeo as well? Certainly John Bolton he was going to assassinate. And Bolton is, of course, a huge critic of Iran has been very good on Iran over the years. John Bolton, one of the better, I think one of the better foreign policy thinkers since 9 11. And there you go, right? A woman critic of Iran, John Bolton and Salman Rushdie. There really seems to be a pattern here coming out of Iran. Is Iran ready to be significantly more aggressive? Is Iran ready to ready to take on the United States in a more meaningful sense? You know, this is the same time that Iran supposedly is negotiating a some kind of treaty with the United States to lift the sanctions and to rescind their nuclear program. Is this going to change, you think the Biden administration's approach to the Iranians? Is this going to cause them to be more cautious in negotiating with them? Is this going to cause them to walk away from the negotiating table? I think I'd put money on the fact that no, that that's not the case. So Gary says there's a federal for 300,000 on Bolton and a million on Pompeo. Very interesting. But but yes, the guy who the guy who was going to kill them was arrested. So they caught him. It's too bad this guy wasn't arrested before he got a chance to attack Rushdie. 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