Well, I am hanging out in Spain, again, but head back home in a week. I have been following the news and writing inconsequential posts on X (nee Twitter) and have tried starting a post on this inconsequential blog several times but find myself repeating more than a dish of fried garlic.
Here goes, again.
The new war in Middle East churns on. Seems the Israelis have begun their land invasion of Gaza, and seem going about it in a very methodical way. Good. I also notice that Israel continues to use those American bombs which only land next to one of the 30,000 hospitals which apparently exist in Gaza, and only kill children. No adults, just children. They might want to switch up their ammo supplier; some advice from an old man behind a computer screen.
I have no doubt the Israelis can handle Hamas, Hizbullah, and any other threats in their neighborhood. I have less confidence in the ability of the West to do so.
I wrote years ago about this, here is one example:
The cause of Islamic "radicalization" is not Guantanamo, Western troops, or women in short skirts. The radicalization, as the word "radical" makes clear, comes from the root of Islam, the Quran. This basic text of Islam is held to be, quite literally, the precise word of Allah as revealed to Mohammed. No deviation is allowed or accepted; it is the Final Word. Period. No further revelations follow. We see, therefore, the rage with which mainstream Islam treats the Ahmadiyya sect which holds to subsequent "revelations" that call for more compassion and understanding. When I served in Pakistan, a major center of the Ahmadiyya faith, attacks on and killings of Ahmadis were common. Jews and Christians, likewise, come in for Islamic hatred and rage, because they do not accept the Quran as the word of God or Mohammed as his Prophet. Forcible conversion, slavery, and death serve as the prescribed remedies for this blasphemy. It is right there in the Quran, aka, the book of instructions on "How to be a Muslim."
We see the streets of London, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Paris, Copenhagen, etc, taken over by frenzied anti-semitic crowds "supporting" Palestine--could they find it on a map?--shouting the "River to the Sea" call for Jewish slaughter.
Thank you, universities.
Many, many of those demonstrators would find themselves raped, tortured, and murdered precisely by the people they purport to support. I love the line from the march organizers that many Jews took part. I have my doubts about how many Jews did, but let us not forget that the Nazis had their Kapos in the camps and outside -- e.g., George Soros and clan --helping them annihilate European Jewry: Yes, Jews who worked for the Nazis--an ugly truth.
Hamas, a mafia-like, blood cult, wants to kill all Jews, including the Kapos, and--surprise!--Christians. They also want to kill LGBTQ (etc) people, and women in short skirts, and on and on. They have a long list.
We are "immigrating" ourselves into a collective suicide. Our own borders remain wide open; we have no idea who is among the millions who have crossed it and continue to do so while we worrying about Ukraine's borders.
Anyhow, no ceasefire until Hamas is destroyed. Hizbullah should be next. It can be done; look at how Trump destroyed the ISIS caliphate in short order.
I have written before that Islam needs to suffer one devastating defeat after another before there is any chance of reform. It's a long war.
There has been a change in the general public, for the better.
ReplyDeleteIndeed there has. It's a preference cascade and I've been watching it build for quite some time. And we can thank some surprising sources for it.
DeleteFirst Hollywood, whose botched attempts at propaganda became blatant and unentertaining and turned a lot of middle and lower class against wokism. Many who would have ordinarily shied away from cultural debates, especially in the various fandoms, have been getting more anti-woke and outspoken due to their efforts.
Second Main Street Media, whose attempts to portray the fruits of arson and riots as "mostly peaceful" in front of a backdrop that looked more like a warzone than most of Gaza to date opened people up to the hypocrisy of the wokists.
Finally the combination of leftist educators and the closeness that was enforced by the COVID elites showed parents first hand the outright grooming occurring in the school systems, which finally pushed more and more to act, even in dark blue districts. They may fear to act if you threaten them, but go for their children and they will go for the jugular.
And of course we all know who we can't thank, the Republican Elites who act more as quislings and traitors to our Nation to allow all of this to happen as long as their friend's nests get feathered on the public dime (more like hundred dollar bill these days).
I don't believe that the war is ideological. Palestinians preach pan-Arabism and Jihad in the search for allies. Israel talks of God's Covenant and being The Only Democracy in the Middle East for the same reason.
ReplyDeleteThe war isn't ideological, it's a conflict of interest. Both sides claim exclusive sovereignty to the same stretch of territory. That's all.
I would give your comment more credibility had Hamas made any effort to improve the lives of the Gaza residents. All the money from the EU and the UN could have funded a reasonable civilization. Instead we get tunnels and rockets.
DeleteYou're right dearimie( I personally think it's control of the Mideast through control of the Suez canal and the Persian Gulf).
DeleteBut those lowly Arabs keep getting themselves manipulated by those haughty Persians to do all the killing and dying.
DeleteUkraine/Russia and Taiwan/China will resolve in the course of a hundred or so years at a maximum. Hamas and its progenitor, sibling and successor organizations will be in existence in perpetuity unless directly stamped out.
Delete- reader #1482
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteHAMAS is indeed a criminal organization not so dissimilar from the proverbial mafias. Like those mafias, Al Qaeda, and ISIS, these groups all need to display their level of barbarity loudly in order to maintain control of their criminal organizations. When ISIS started burning people alive and beheading people, HAMAS was pressured to up-its-game to torturing and beheading children as we see now.
ReplyDeleteIt's a race to the most brutal.
The west's policy on Israel is truly abysmal... but not in the sense our liberal detractors would expect. It's insane that the west expects Israel to accept ongoing rocket attacks without responding to fix the situation. Israel should have taken hamas out 15 years ago and the US should've provided its full backing at the time, rather than after thousands of civilians have been brutalized.
- reader #1482
- reader #1482
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSterilize Gaza would be my suggestion.
ReplyDeleteI can tell you from my direct experience, that the Israeli government were given an opportunity to do just that in the early 1960s and turned it down. Many a truth spoken in jest.
ReplyDeleteAll the money given that o the Palestinian welfare state the streets should be paved in gold, it's not because Hamas isn't in the building a government it's in the tearing down one.
ReplyDeleteBetter BEWARE out there
ReplyDeleteMs M, as it appears to be
near deadly dangerous
wherever one dares to
tread, even an outta
the way Bowling
Alley~~~RIP
OW~~~
"Let's Roll"
What I don't understand - genuinely - and if anyone can help I would like to hear from them is why so many liberal Westerners support these Islamic headbangers? Women especially. What do they think these Mohammedans will do to them if they take over? Treat them as equals? Really? I know Christians who are supportive of Islamics - what do they think will happen to their churches and freedom of worship? Democracy, decent standards of behavior all gone to be replaced by some Dark Ages belief system. And in the UK and Europe and it seems all over the world our leaders are importing millions of these welfare scrounging criminals into our countries every year. Sometimes I wish I was in charge, I really do.
ReplyDeleteThe Islamists can burn down churches all they want, but they can't supplant Jesus as Lord. Christians should only really interact with peaceful muslims as though they're typical unbelievers or atheists, people who either ignored or haven't heard the call. The New Testament is very clear about how Christians must treat such people.
DeleteDid Jesus communicate advice to Rome about diversity, equity, and inclusion? No. Give unto Washington D.C. what is Washington D.C.'s, give your heart to God.
- reader #1482
Well put B'rer #1482~~~
DeleteWill Say a wee prayer
to the Almighty, that
enough of we sinners
stateside, still have at
least one good Ear, to
hear such Good News~~~
On Watch~~~
" Let's Roll"
I know my answer may seem trite, but it really isn't, they are basically stupid and ignorant. Stupid because they follow the herd's group think and ignorant because they know no history.
ReplyDeleteYes, Islam is the problem--but not half the problem our own willful ignorance and wishful thinking provides.
ReplyDeleteI'm a pessimist. Maybe this is why my diplomatic career was short and inglorious. Islam will not behave itself until, perhaps, Christian Crusaders from Central Africa shake hands with other Christian Crusaders from China over the ruins of the Kaaba, and celebrate victory by barbecuing pork over some of the stones--and the end of the world does not occur.
I saw that Western willful ignorance on every hand--even in dear old Foggy Bottom (aptly named). I recall being told in a training class on SE Asia how "monsoon Islam" was supposedly kinder and gentler than "desert Islam"; and that Sufis were nice people because they held dialogues with Quakers over mysticism. Well, didn't anyone know about how Sufi-directed Monsoon Muslims in Mindanao gave the Spanish, us, the Japanese, and the independent Philippines no end of trouble? How sufi orders were behind a lot of the trouble that both imperial and Communist Russian and Chinese states had with their Muslim minorities? Or, were involved in the internal subversions of Muslim poities? And how they went on about how "Islamic fundamentalism (warning: I use "fundamentalist" only for those Christians who own it)" was a Shi'ite disease, regardless of various Sunnite Islamicist groups everywhere, including our fine, upright Saudi allies who fretted more about our Kufr casualties polluting their sacred sand when Sodom Insane was ready to blitzkrieg them?
Then again, we somehow fool ourselves into thinking that Western, liberal values are somehow "universal" and accessible to all through "unaided reason". Maybe, in the confrontations with Islam and a China that knows it's the world's last, best hope for twentieth century totalitarianism, we'll discover the hard way that our notions of reason and justice are not universal, but take their meanings from a narrow tradition of discourse.
Kepha
I would agree with your last paragraph absolutely.
Delete
Delete"Yes, Islam is the problem--but not half the problem our own willful ignorance and wishful thinking provides."
Ah~So, Mr. K~~~
Wonderful to be privy
to a, Teacher--Learner
reasoned+diplomatic
discussion, of our
Pasts, Present, and
perhaps, Futures...
As always,
Thank you,
for your thoughtful
insight & wisdom~~~
On Watch~~~
..."Then again, we somehow fool ourselves into thinking that Western, liberal values are somehow "universal" and accessible to all through "unaided reason". Maybe, in the confrontations with Islam and a China that knows it's the world's last, best hope for twentieth century totalitarianism, we'll discover the hard way that our notions of reason and justice are not universal, but take their meanings from a narrow tradition of discourse. Kepha"
"Let's Roll"