Are they compatible?
The question is whether or not Islam as a religion is separable from the totalitarian ideology. Christianity had its reformation. Islam awaits its own.
Category Archives: War Commentary
Kim Jong-Un Will Be Pleased
We had a failed test of an interceptor.
This is why we test, but I think that an administration more serious about missile defense would be stepping up the testing.
That Dumb Cowboy Bush
It’s sure a good thing we got rid of him.
[[Update a while later]
Who lost the Middle East? The wrecking crew in the White House.
[Another update a few minutes later]
Who are the good guys in the Middle East?
Prospects for liberal democracy there have never been bright, except for the one exception of Israel, which was formed by transplants from elsewhere.
Also, related: “Dismiss the Egyptian people, and elect a new one.”
Obama Can’t Control Events In Egypt
Sesquicentennial
It’s been a century and a half since the beginning of one of the (if not the) most consequential battles of American (and indeed, world) history. It was the beginning of the end for the southern cause, particularly after Grant took Vicksburg the day after the end of the battle, cutting the south in two and freeing him up to come east command the army that would eventually become the greatest the world had known up to that time.
[Update later morning]
Some thoughts from George Will.
The battle is also a sharp rebuke to those who claim that violence never solves anything. Ultimately, it solved slavery in America.
Egypt
…and “smart diplomacy“:
The demonstrators maintain Morsi has become a power-hungry autocrat who is intent on making the Muslim Brotherhood Egypt’s permanent ruling party.
They also blame the Obama administration and U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson for propping up Morsi and facilitating the Muslim Brotherhood’s power grab.
“We are very critical of the Obama administration because they have been supporting the Brotherhood like no one has ever supported them,” Shadi Al Ghazali Harb, a 24-year-old member of Egypt’s Revolutionary Youth Coalition, told the Washington Free Beacon on Friday afternoon during a telephone interview from Cairo.
The White House is “the main supporter of the Brotherhood,” he said. “If it wasn’t for the American support this president would have fallen months ago.”
Al Ghazali Harb specifically dubbed Patterson “the first enemy of the revolution,” claiming “she is hated even more than Morsi.”
Activists hung pictures of Patterson with a red “X” drawn across her face at Egypt’s Defense Ministry during smaller protests Friday afternoon.
“She’s done a lot to harm our relations with the United States,” Al Ghazali Harb said.
This administration’s done a lot of harm to a lot of countries’ relations with the United States. Not to mention our national security.
But “Bain!!” and “War on women!” (not counting Muslim women, of course), and 47%!!,” and “dog in a crate.”
[Update a few minutes later]
I would assume that the administration’s excuse for not siding with the protesters (despite the biggest protest in the history of the world) is that to remove Morsi (e.g., via military coup) would somehow be “undemocratic.” This ignores the fact that Morsi’s government, regardless of how it came to power, is intrinsically undemocratic. There is no democratic way out of this mess. But at some point, the military knows that it will have to remove these nutjobs if it doesn’t want to get into a war with Israel that it can’t win. These protests will likely embolden the generals.
Insect-Sized Drone Assassins
What is the political equilibrium?
One thing I can imagine is setting up a defensive perimeter around yourself with your own swarm of them. But that’s the kind of world that lies ahead, absent a technological collapse (which would be even more horrible).
Theresa May
British schoolgirls are being systematically gang-raped by Muslims and British soldiers are being hacked to death in the street by Muslims and yet this despicable gutless appeaser, Theresa May, thinks the way to solve the problem is to ban critics of Islam?
Neville Chamberlain was a heroic statesman by comparison.
It is very sad to see the pathetic state to which England has devolved. She wouldn’t stay long in her position if Cameron were (brain) alive.
Obama’s Melting Wings
When I first read the title of Mark Steyn’s latest, on Obama’s European meltdown, I thought it was an allusion to Icarus, but apparently not. It would be a good one, though — a naive man flies too close to the sun, and consequently plummets.
Er Ist Kein Bewohner Von Berlin
Or should I just say, “Er ist kein Berliner”?
An uncomplimentary British review of The One’s latest blather in Germany:
In stark contrast to that of his presidential predecessors, Barack Obama’s message on Wednesday was pure mush, another clichéd “citizens of the world” polemic with little substance. This was a speech big on platitudes and hopeless idealism, while containing much that was counter-productive for the world’s superpower. Ultimately it was little more than a laundry list of Obama’s favourite liberal pet causes, including cutting nuclear weapons, warning about climate change, putting an end to all wars, shutting Guantanamo, ending global poverty, and backing the European Project. It was a combination of staggering naiveté, the appeasement of America’s enemies and strategic adversaries, and the championing of more big government solutions.
In other words, business (or lack of business) as usual.