Condemning Islamic Culture

[CapelDodger]

from Earthborn:

Have you thought about the possibility that the cause could very well be that those unfree countries usually are former colonies of countries that are now free? Perhaps the reason they are not free is because they didn't have the opportunity to develop the same way as free countries did?

Less than a century has passed since the Arab world was part of the Ottoman Empire, and that since the 16thCE (Suleiman the Magnificent). Prior to that they were part of the Seljuk Empire, prior to that the Caliphate, and so on. Nothing to do with "countries" in any of that. Since the defeat of the Ottomans, "countries" have been mapped out by external forces - and I use the word mapped advisedly, since there's no local rationale to actually make these places "nations". I would contend that the Iraqi opposition aren't patriotic Iraqis, because there is no real Iraqi patria. They're "patriotic" in a much more local sense - sect, city, tribe, charismatic leader. The whole structure of the region, as the larger world defines and tries to deal with it, is totally artificial. The only rational borders are with Egypt and Iran; even Turkey's borders are the result of post-1919 carve-up. And the Turks weren't happy with it, take it from me.

Until there's some radical re-thinking and re-organisation in the Middle East, the frictions caused by the existing order will snuff out any chances of progress towards freedom. An option that seems reasonable to me is a pan-Arab version of the USA - many states with control over their local affairs, and understanding of their local interests, with a guarantor body ensuring that civil rights are upheld and that government is truly representative. Pipe dreams, of course.

 

[rikzilla]

Iraqi PM Allawi to Congress:

"Like Americans, we Iraqis want to enjoy freedom!"

No equivocation there. Unlike the bigoted liberals here who think Iraqis are somehow less capable of understanding or appreciating freedom....Mr. Allawi has no problem defining the word and using it properly.

Click the link,...look at him. These are human beings...tell us again Don how they should have been abandoned to the tyranny of Saddam. You PC-libralism is beginning to look like a thin disguise for simple anti-Arab bigotry.

You can't argue for human rights by first rejecting freedom for those whose rights you claim to uphold. Un-free people don't get "rights".

-z

 

[Mycroft]

Click the link,...look at him. These are human beings...tell us again Don how they should have been abandoned to the tyranny of Saddam. You PC-libralism is beginning to look like a thin disguise for simple anti-Arab bigotry.

Very well said.