Total number of comments: 299 (since 2013-11-28 15:55:00)
Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion
Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion
Total number of comments: 299 (since 2013-11-28 15:55:00)
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"who believes that the U.S. stands for humanity’s best ideals, inscribed in the world’s oldest constitution"
You'd have to live under a rock to continue to cling to this notion. I content that a honest attempt to live up to these ideals would be a nice change of pace.
@Nobody, my short take on your questions:
"Is the old government of Saudi Arabia only protecting it’s Kingdom?"
No.
"Does the United States military and government (the 1% of Americans) really know what they’re doing?"
No.
"When does the Madness stop?"
Not any time soon.
"When does cooperation and heart take over?"
Only once greed, extremism and sectarian hatred has exhausted itself.
"When does the UN grow up?"
As soon as the adults are in charge.
It is very fashionable nowadays to throw the word "terrorism" around. But the term actually has a well defined meaning:
"The use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims."
It does indeed not matter that the pilot was from the Rhineland, what matters is that there is absolutely no indication whatsoever of a political objective. As far as we know this was a mass-murder suicide by a mentally sick individual. No last letters, no statements indicate that anything politcal motivated his crime.
"Don’t you think Breivik was a right-wing Christian ideologue as well ?"
Maybe, I didn't delve into his motives, all I know is that he's was a right wing terrorist who didn't like brown people (and that's pretty much how German media reported on it, which I used as my primary news source closer to the crime).
If there was some religion narrative in addition to that, then it is as related to the Christian faith as ISIS/Daesh is to Islam.
As an agnostic I am not particularly versed or interested in religion, but I know enough not to mistake a hater's self-labeling for the real thing.
Norwegian Anders Breivik was a white supremacist terrorist.
If this guy would have had any discernible ideological leanings he would have been called a terrorist in the German media.
BYW the German media I follow never considered the idiotic "was he a muslim" question.
A lot of people died a senseless death, please let's not cheapen this with vacuous comments from the right or left to make a quick political point (for a pointless example from the right I refer you to Art Fine's comment above).
"... trying to be politically correct ..."
Hogwash. They invested in the guy, he passed his physical, end of story.
"... the countries into which they have wandered."
The hubris is astounding, some Jewish Diasporas date back to the Roman empire.
Good thing the Irish government doesn't make similar demands, their Island would sink to the sea floor under all the added weight.
You've beaten me to it.
Friedman has been a hopeless case for quite a while:
link to reason.com
When Rabin was shot the region was again put on its road to hell, there have been many forks in the road to get to a better place, Israel just squandered another one.
You really shouldn't call him that, he isn't really all that fat, and then the term should be obese, really he is only slightly heavy set at most.
If Rabin's fate taught us anything, he’d likely be shot anyhow. Whatever else you may think of him, it takes guts to even go there.
"I do not believe any politician on either side is capable of bridging the gaps."
The only way this gap can be bridged is with tons of money. The international community has a massive interest in ending this seemingly eternal conflict. A fund with unlimited monetary firepower (something along the IWF special drawing rights) should be set up to develop the Palestinian economy, assuming they are willing to sign on to an agreement that Israel can live with. Also an international troop contingent needs to be set-up to provide them with cost-neutral defense capabilities and border security, in exchange for their agreement to forgo their own army.
In short I am arguing to buy them off, but not on the cheap.
Indeed. Seeing Herzog in the midst of this crowd made me think the same.
No it's not too late. For obvious reasons Germany is very hesitant to step up pressure on Israel. Quite likely that Herzog would get all the supports he needs from the EU.
Zook, what do you think "the world" should do exactly? I think the pre-mature Nobel peace price for Obama was a pretty massive hint, don't you think?
@Q, "Participatory democracy is not a decline."
Would be nice if the US was still a fully functioning participatory democracy, yet it comes to ever more resemble an oligarchy.
Democracy v1.0 is in urgent need of an update.
link to washingtontimes.com
Don't see any good guys in this mess. (Remind me again who shot Rabin?)
As to that quote, our blog host debunked that long ago, but some falsehoods never die.
link to commondreams.org
Alternatively, a Harvard Law degree isn't what it used to be either. Broader patterns of decline?
Duplicate link,
link to middleeastmonitor.com
They are overstretched, only at best have grudging support of the locals and are starting to turn on themselves.
They are dead men walking.
link to english.alarabiya.net
link to english.alarabiya.net
Sistani is the only one who has shown some leadership on this issue, let's hope he steps it up a notch.
It should be enough, but what are the odds that this reconciliation will happen?
You are appealing to shared humanistic values, which seem to be in short supply, and outcompeted by sectarian and tribal loyalties.
BP should have gone out of business in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. Yet the US government essentially colluded with them to shield them from the full financial impact. As long as governments can be co-opted like this oil will remain a killer business (literally).
Again, why not YPG? They are secular and they have proven to be efficient combatants.
Supporting the Kurdish YPG seems the logical choice - let's just stop pretending Erdogan has the Western interests at heart.
Surprised that this option isn't even mentioned.
... unless they had a leader at the time who had a bad attack of Stephen Harperitis.
May I present to you the former NATO secretary and Danish PM at the time Anders Fogh[y Head] Rasmussen.
He'd fit right in with a cowboy hat.
"What happened since then?"
Not much, Denmark is still a highly developed welfare state for Danish citizens. As to Iraq, they had a conservative government at the time that chose to believe Colin Powell.
Let's hope Comedy Central is smart enough to keep the format alive with another anchor, or maybe anchors as a Fox and Friends spoof. There are many talented comedians to pick from Stewart's staff.
"No one systematically executes people over a parking space."
Not in any sane society, but this is America after all.
For what it's worth, the individuals in Canada who went on Islamist inspired killing sprees have been pretty much described as "self-radicalized lone wolf white terrorist".
It's just a new variation on the theme that we now see Anti-Theists, with some seriously religious zeal, packing the same kind of heat.
link to ipolitics.ca
"... treat groups like ISIS as criminal street gangs."
That's exactly the kind of mindset that is required to find appropriate responses. Well put.
Missing the point. This is not about how to "formally declare war" as a guerrilla force. The question if DAESH is a proper nation fighting a proper war has absolutely no bearing on the culpability with regards to how they treat prisoners.
This is not a bar brawl. Commitment does not equate depravity. The US was fully committed to victory in WW2 as well as to respecting the Geneva convention.
The cheap machismo that seems to motivate your stance is echoed by the more stupid utterances from DC. Nicely illustrates how far the US has already sunken. You could do DAESH no better favour than to embrace them in their cult of death, so as to being pulled down to their level.
Little good ever comes from the moral equivalence game, and I was surprised that Prof. Cole went there. In terms of utter moral failure that of my nation will hopefully never be topped (I am German), yet every nation with a free civil society should have the capability for moral introspection, and fortunately the US despite all its flaws never squashed these kinds of discussions.
That alone illustrates how misguided it is to draw any equivalence to ISIS/DAESH who effortlessly combine modern totalitarianism with the sensibilities of medieval inquisition.
“Shock and Awe” is the wrong analogy. Abu Ghraib is much more apt.
It is about killing and torturing prisoners. The willful abuse of prisoners who neither can flee nor fight back is in a category of its own when it comes to depravity.
In fact Abu Ghraib was so bad that even the Bush administration had to follow through with some oversight. In this sense DAESH actually manged to top them in the race to the pits of hell.
Without proper governance, policing and justice system we can expect to see much more of this cycle of revenge.
IS/DAESH manages to pull the entire region down to a level of unprecedented depravity.
"... and so should be allowed to put extra water in makes no since if that policy would drown you."
Typo alert.
"... the message is aimed directly at any other Muslims who might already be primed for radicalization."
Seems to me this target perfectly serves both purposes.
Iran is in need of a clerical version of Gorbachev, one who rises through the ranks of the right wing clergy, and has them fouled with regards to his true stance until made Supreme Leader.
If that was to happen the system may be amenable to reform, otherwise I expect it will eventually face another revolution.
The first driver was a woman and these brave Saudi women do her proud.
"She even allowed the nonsensical ‘german road toll for foreigners!’ to become a law. "
Not true. Such a law would be incompatible with EU law. There is currently only one toll enforced and that is for heavy trucks, and it is of course non-discriminatory.
The CSU slogans you are referring to have been widely ridiculed in Germany. Merkel really didn't have to add anything when a hyper-nationalist politician firmly plants his foot into his mouth like that.
What is driving the ugly resurgence of nationalistic and anti-foreign sentiments is the increased influx of refugees. I don't see these flames fanned by any mainstream parties, only the new and questionable AfD is acting ambivalent.
Hope the sentiment and clear eyed analysis expressed in this article will at some point penetrate the beltway walls of ignorance.
"By 2016, solar and wind will be grid parity everywhere in the US with coal and natural gas for heating and cooling buildings."
While the progress is tremendous and most welcome you are leaving out a very important aspect. The quality of power that is referred to as "dispatachbility" in the industry. I.e. the ability to balance demand when it is needed. Neither wind, solar or coal has this but NG powered turbines do. They can very quickly ramp up and down production, and are currently key in keeping the grid stable.
The DOE has recognized this gap, hence the focus on battery technology to complement wind and solar.
Energy storage technology is going to be the crucial cornerstone in weaning us of fossil fuel.
"... elected leaders are far from popular."
This is incorrect for at least one major Western country:
link to uk.reuters.com
"While a decade or so ago the colors and styles of veils were prescribed by “jama’ats,” women now use veils to express their moral agency and personal taste and aspirations within a context of religious submission. "
This is what passes as progress? My sarcasm fails me.
If you think the scientific method and critical thinking are a Western fashion then I guess it is safe to say that the educational system failed you too.
Does Fox “News” cultivate Closed Minded “Right Wing Authoritarians”?
Yes.
Yet another edition of simple answers to simple questions.
Infiltration should be fairly easy for intelligence services since IS apparently lets any yahoo join who can recite some lines from the Qur'an and is willing to swear fealty.
Prosecution would send a clear signal that the world embraces due process and human rights, and that in due course this will always trump the make believe universality of an extremist ideology.
Back to differ. Assad is just another dictator fighting to retain power, while the Kurds fight to gain national sovereignty.
Only IS made it clear that they intent the genocide of the Yezidi people (as well as the murder of all Shia they encounter).
As a German I take it serious if some political actors announce a planned genocide, and have the means to accomplish this. All too often they tend to follow through.
If you take this as a Western obsession I'll happily subscribe to it.
UN troops to take down IS would require a fighting mandate, don't see how this could get through the security council. Although it would be great if this could be accomplished.
When fighting IS it is definitely a step in the right direction.
The way the Iraq Kurds organized their sub-state they are a far cry from just another bunch of warlords.
Well condensed and probably inevitable.
More like the beginning of national sovereignty for Kurdistan. Seems about time.
Utterly shameful. Iran unfortunately calls it and has every reason to rub it in. What a deplorable collective failure.
Let's hope this was just political spin rather than ignorance.
At least American Open Carry activist will find some positive aspects in this video.
I haven't watched any of their videos and I never will.
Let's not play into their hands and let's not call them by their chosen name. I like Laurent Fabius take on it. Leave it to the French to come up with a good insult:
link to huffingtonpost.com
Regardless whether a person is tortured over weeks or dies with a quick snap of the neck, they are DEAD and feel nothing
This simply absurd. By the same logic the Holocaust didn't matter either, It is the pain that matters, and the termination of a life half lived.
Simple Mind, your nick seems to be wisely chosen, if you only now come to the realization that Saudi Arabia's barbarism and promotion of Wahhabism is the source of all this evil.
"Remember that the guillotine was considered a 'humane' way to kill a human, so why is a knife any worse?"
Spyguy, I hope you will never have to find out why beheading with a short blunt knife is far worse.
Human nature is what it is. The best way to overcome tribalism is mixing of the tribes.
This is the positive aspect of EU integration. No borders and freedom to move and work anywhere within the EU countries. Hence Germany is attracting a lot of talent from Southern Europe.
This can, of course, also be cast as a negative brain drain, but as multilingualism becomes the norm the South may very well attract more quality businesses, especially of the High Tech variety where quality of life can be an asset to lure talent. Due to the Ukraine crisis Spain is already experiencing more growth at this time.
Since Germany's economy is open to all EU citizens I really don't see any problem with its current strength. And as to the submarines for Israel, I don't recall torpedoes fired into Gaza - very hard to use them as suppression tools in urban warfare. There's two main reason why they don't have German tanks: (a) because the have American ones (b) because tanks can be used against Palestinians. Of course if (a) wasn't the case Germany would be hard pressed to supply these weapons as well.
For obvious reasons it is a cornerstone of German politics that Israel has the right to exist.
"An authority that is disinterested and has the credibility and political will to do the job well."
The lack of such an authority is exactly the problem. When a minority without means to support itself gets trapped on mountaintops there is no external actor that can act as quickly and decisively as the US military.
For good or bad, the US imperial overreach has created global logistic capabilities that are unmatched by any other nation on earth.
".... secret selfies of Angela’s knickers…" would probably have been the most tangible outcome of this wasteful exercise.
Overall the US presence in Germany has a rather minor economic impact, after all this the largest economy and industrial heartland of the EU. The benefit I am alluding to is political in nature and includes the fact that this gets many impressible young US soldiers exposed to Germany. While living and working in the states I often encountered men who were favorably inclined to Germany due to having been stationed there earlier in life.
It also firmly anchors Germany militarily and reduces the need for native forces which in turns means that our neighbors no longer have any reason to regard Germany as a military threat - this notion fortunately has been well shed and relegated to the last century. The latter is a key aspect that allows for European unification. Outsourcing military security to NATO and the US has been a key enabler for this.
Don't think you have a mandate to speak for the majority of the world.
Pretty sure, for instance, that many Polish people would like to see some US troops stationed there.
As a German I also think it is perfectly desirable to have some US presence in my country. But I can wholeheartedly agree to the last statement. It is most desirable to have "a relationship based on mutual respect and cooperation."
The US certainly has room for improvement on this aspect.
So, the US utterly destroy a country and as a consequence we are now stuck with the genocidal ISIS 'caliphate'. And supposedly the lesson learned is to completely disengage.
US Progressives didn't start this war, but their unwillingness to take responsibility for the damage done by their country does not impress me.
This article is strangely detached and academic. Yes, ISIS is a reaction to the previous escalation, but this means the US is directly responsible for these genocidal maniacs.
So what does the author propose the US is supposed to do about this?
Simply leaving Iraq to its own devices after you broke it, is utterly cynical.
It seems to be a common denominator of religious extremists of all stripes that their cruelty is usually matched by their ignorance of what their religion is actually about.
Really don't think ISIS needs much help in the discrediting dept.
They already put their genocidal atrocities pridefully on Youtube.
The counterpunsh link nicely demonstrates that uninformed tin foil head speculations are not just a prerogative of the American right.
Profoundly creepy.
But then again not worse then this recent news from Madrid.
Many years ago a friend of mine joked that the most discriminated person imaginable must be a gay, black Jew. Unfortunately, it wasn't really a joke but reality.
“We have done multiple studies of our operations in Afghanistan,” Thomas wrote in an email. “We have an obligation to ensure those lessons, both good and bad, are correctly learned for the future, and we take that charge very seriously".
Well then, what could possibly go wrong.
Leave it to the pope to turn these gasbags into caricatures of themselves.
Soon the will start calling liberal Jews Antisemitic, and won't see an irony in it.
Dr. Cole, the media is abuzz with news that Merkel called Putin as out of touch with reality. The quote is "he lives in another world".
Problem is, if you translate this word by word into German: "Er lebt in einer anderen Welt" means something rather different.
If a German uses this phrase it means "he sees the world entirely different".
Very reminiscent of the mistranslated Ahmadinejad quote.
And jut like in the latter case this kind of bad translation can do some real damage.
Kant showed that this moral 'doctrine' can be solely motivated by reason, i.e. it makes for functioning societies.
If you want to go further than that you can explore how social mores and altruism convey evolutionary benefits to social animals.
The divine is indeed entirely unnecessary.
I wouldn't be surprised if future historians will regard the privatized penitentiary system as a similar abject institutionalized injustice comparable to the institution of slavery. Especially since it largely affects the same minority and often inmates are required to perform prison work.
With three kids to feed I usually keep my wallet shut, but given the current level of US Islamophobia your voice of reason is more important than ever.
Thank you Professor for this article. Written with all the passion of a true American patriot.
You are stating the obvious, that glaringly never gets said.
Sad how this boy echos my mother's sentiment who grew up as a child in WW2 Germany with the constant thread of air raids.
Half a century later and civilians are still killed out of the blue sky.
The first long distance drive was performed by a woman:
link to en.wikipedia.org
A woman race driver was the first to take a car around the world:
link to en.wikipedia.org
Very funny.
A travesty of justice.
Thank you, Prof. Cole, for connecting these threads and stories that are so often presented as disparate and disconnected.
This Canadian based company may be good starting point: link to hushmail.com
Yes, I wondered this too. While the linked article seems to be factual at first glance, the trumpet.com is a most bizarre "news" site.
The intelligence and liveliness of this old man near the end of his life is inspiring and his words are prophetic.
As more and more Americans are stripped off their rights they will need to learn to take inspiration from the civil rights movement of old to get them back.
Chemical weapons in modern warfare are terror weapons. They "worked" in that regard when Saddam Hussein was using them. They are less designed to kill combatants but civilians that are believed to be associated with them i.e. Sunnis in this case.
Truly horrific to what lows Assad is willing to go, especially contemplating that he once practiced medicine.
Megacephalus, your statement about "the shear arrogance of being self-proclaimed ‘God’s Chosen’" is abjectly odious.
Religions of any sort tend to claim to be the chosen ones. To specifically condem Judasim for this is indeed anti-Semitic.
It is company like yours that makes it easy for Likkudniks of any color to brush of human right based criticism as nothing but Antisemitism.
Base load is a canard and can be addressed with large and flexible enough grids (a major handicap in the US when compared to Europe).
The more problematic challenge is peak demand and fluctuations. That is what will keep natural gas in business unless more storage technologies are available.
Pumped hydro is ideal in this regard but at least in Europe most geological suitable sites have already been developed (not sure about the US).
There are some bold visions for storage technologies but some of these ideas will require a Manhattan Project like effort. E.g. such as the Hydraulic Hydro Energy Storage idea.
Want to join the chorus of thanks for this report!
What a sad comment on the state of corporate media. One man with a camera and the ability to ask thoughtful questions puts all their reporting to shame.
Prof. Cole,
recently I came across <a href=http://tinyurl.com/3jqzjfn this article in the Independent. It talks about how the historic structures of Mecca and Median are destroyed to make space for a 'Vegas' like cityscape.
If true this seems to be an atrocious destruction of Islam's cultural heritage. What astounded me is that the article claims that Wahhabism actually encourages this kind of vandalism. If true this would make the Saudi Royals abysmally lousy guardians of Islam's most sacred sites.
I'd be very interested to hear your take on this.
Russia only has been an unreliable supplier because the Ukraine did not pay the price they demanded.
They are quite reliable if you pay the market price on time. Hence Nord Stream.
Admittedly you don't want to be at the mercy of just one supplier but the dependency is mutual. After all Russia requires good customers to cash in on the riches of their natural resources.
Misplaced my earlier comment it is a reply that goes here.
GDP is a notoriously bad measure for how well off a country is (-> referenced link).
Nevertheless it'll be interesting how US and Germany's per capita GDP compare when also talking out the financial services (I'd argue they are highly bloated and dysfunctional in the US at this time).
GDP reference:
link to shell.ihug.co.nz
Impressive work. One minor quibble though:
I would hope that the integration of the European Union would have reached a level by 2050 that breaking out individual countries such as my own (Germany) doesn't really make sense.
Already I think the euro zone should be considered as one fully consolidated economy. After all within this zone we have essentially no borders, full economic mobility and freedom as well as the same currency.
No offense meant, but it feels to me that US observers often seem to be a ignorant of this development and the level of economic integration that has already been achieved.
With all due respect I find this is too cavalier an attitude. While I all for not fighting wars it nevertheless helps to mitigate some of the atrocities if certain humanitarian rules are followed. This was even true for WWII when Germany and the allies restrained from using chemical warfare and observed the Geneva convention for prisoners of war.
There is no doubt that the first ever mass air raid that destroyed Guernica during the Spanish civil war constituted a war crime. Unfortunately instead if codifying the use of air force against civilians as war crime the US and UK pushed back on it when the the fourth Geneva convention of 1949 was negotiated since they feared an admission of guilt for their systematic "area bombing" of German and Japanese civilians.
War has been a terrible constant throughout human history. There is little expectation that this is going to change. Any effort to dull its teeth through implementation of rules of conduct, field manuals, disarmament agreements and international treaties etc. are worthwhile exercises that deserve the fullest political support.
I understand that this is a blog and don't expect the rigorousness of an academic paper. Nevertheless for a historian of your standing this statement is just too glib and simplistic:
The only way not to commit atrocities and war crimes is not to fight wars.
Wars will be fought. If you accept that premise then we should be motivated to mitigate the damage as much as possible.