Thoughts and some history on an obvious problem that too many want to ignore:
In the last decade, the world has learned what Israelis have known for a long time; Arabs and their governments tend to favor self-destructive policies. Western nations have generally ignored this madness, or excused each instance as a momentary lapse in good judgment. But this bad behavior has spawned Islamic terrorism, and sustains it. Many Arabs believe what al Qaeda preaches, that the world should be ruled by an Islamic religious dictatorship, and that this must be achieved by any means necessary (including force, against non-Moslems, and Moslems who don’t agree.) This sort of thinking has been popular with Islamic conservatives since Islam first appeared in the sixth century. Since then, it has periodically flared up into major outbreaks of religious inspired violence. But that’s not the only problem. Arabs, in particular, sustain these outbursts with their fondness for paranoid fantasies and an exaggerated sense of persecution and entitlement. For example, most Arabs believe that the September 11, 2001 attacks were not carried out by Arabs, but were a CIA scam, to provide an excuse for the West to make war on Islam. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. U.S. troops in Iraq were amazed at the number of fantastical beliefs that were accepted as reality there. Then there is the corruption and intense hatreds. It’s a very volatile and unpredictable part of the world, and always has been.
Many of the people may be wonderful individuals, but it’s a sick, sick culture. As one commenter notes, it’s lunacy to think that if there were no Israel, there would be peace in the Middle East.
[Update a few minutes later]
“Peace with Israel is not sacred…and can be changed.”
So how’s that “Arab Spring” working out again?
. I’ve tried to cut back on grains in general, having been pretty thoroughly paleo for the past few months, though I like corn too much to cut it out completely. But I hadn’t realized that modern wheat is even worse for us than the ancient stuff, and that gave the Egyptians diabetes, to judge from the mummies.