You glanced at Landis' map, but didn't read his comments. An Allawite state will not and cannot emerge. The Allawite's do not have chemical weapons, the Syrian state does. As Landis makes clear, there have been no efforts to make independent Allawite institutions and the entire effort of the Baath party has been to form a non-sectarian state. Lots of Syrians, of many different sects, appreciate that, and so find the prospect of a future in which the FSA--funded and armed by Saudis, Qataris, et alia--becomes a dominant social force deeply unsettling. Syrians know the history of Lebanon, and many if not most hope not to go down that road. This is not to defend the Assad regime or their tactics. But to imagine Syria as a state breaking up into smaller sectarian states is to imagine a future neither I nor most Syrians would choose. The human suffering would be immense. Nor would it last.
Iran is not "anti-Islamic" any more than any other self-identified religious regime is anti-religious. I find the Saudis an appalling regime, but I don't consider them "anti-Islamic". I find the Israelis an appalling regime, but I don't consider them "anti-Jewish". I find the Vatican an appalling institution, but I don't consider them "anti-Christian". We need to be able to recognize that religious states are just that: religious states. They will be flawed and fail to uphold their religious values, precisely because they are at once religious and nationalist. Those two ideologies will always be in conflict and frustrating. But those theological/political realities are the stuff of twenty-first century geopolitics.
Let us try to get used to this reality.
I'm puzzled by the claims of Palestinian protestants. I was under the impression from Usama Makdisi's book "Artillery of Heaven" that (Western) Protestant attempts at conversion in the Levant have been largely unsuccessful. Could you Juan or anyone else give more information on the Protestant Palestinian population?
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You glanced at Landis' map, but didn't read his comments. An Allawite state will not and cannot emerge. The Allawite's do not have chemical weapons, the Syrian state does. As Landis makes clear, there have been no efforts to make independent Allawite institutions and the entire effort of the Baath party has been to form a non-sectarian state. Lots of Syrians, of many different sects, appreciate that, and so find the prospect of a future in which the FSA--funded and armed by Saudis, Qataris, et alia--becomes a dominant social force deeply unsettling. Syrians know the history of Lebanon, and many if not most hope not to go down that road. This is not to defend the Assad regime or their tactics. But to imagine Syria as a state breaking up into smaller sectarian states is to imagine a future neither I nor most Syrians would choose. The human suffering would be immense. Nor would it last.
Iran is not "anti-Islamic" any more than any other self-identified religious regime is anti-religious. I find the Saudis an appalling regime, but I don't consider them "anti-Islamic". I find the Israelis an appalling regime, but I don't consider them "anti-Jewish". I find the Vatican an appalling institution, but I don't consider them "anti-Christian". We need to be able to recognize that religious states are just that: religious states. They will be flawed and fail to uphold their religious values, precisely because they are at once religious and nationalist. Those two ideologies will always be in conflict and frustrating. But those theological/political realities are the stuff of twenty-first century geopolitics.
Let us try to get used to this reality.
I'm puzzled by the claims of Palestinian protestants. I was under the impression from Usama Makdisi's book "Artillery of Heaven" that (Western) Protestant attempts at conversion in the Levant have been largely unsuccessful. Could you Juan or anyone else give more information on the Protestant Palestinian population?