The Uighurs are a beautiful (physically and culturally) ethnically mixed, tradition-rich people in a fascinating geographic context. How does it help that the Chinese government imprisons them en masse and continues to make it difficult for Christian missionaries to reach these populations?!
Also while Islamic radicalism is a problem in Central Asia, especially in the post-soviet spaces like Uzbekistan and Tajikistan — many Central Asians I’ve met personally are MINO. (Muslim in Name Only.)
That is a bait and switch arguement.
You are attempting to swap out all of the inhabitants of the region (whom I never criticized per se) with the practitioners of the unified world system known as Islam.
You yourself pointed out that the apostates aren’t a problem. I never indicated that the apostates were a problem.
My point is and was that Muslims who follow the Koran and the Hadith are as bad as committed communists so I have no problems if those two groups kill each other off, and I damned well won’t support squandering American personnel or resources in any misguided attempt to stop them from doing so.
[Also while Islamic radicalism is a problem in Central Asia, especially in the post-soviet spaces like Uzbekistan and Tajikistan — many Central Asians I’ve met personally are MINO. (Muslim in Name Only.)]
Xi Jinping has Chinese emperor syndrome - he is jealous of any organized group and influential individual that might challenge him for the limelight. But his actions re Muslims in China are legit. Even in places like Malaysia and Indonesia, where Islam was traditionally syncretic - i.e. mixed in with traditional animist and Hindu beliefs, imams literate in Arabic have turned huge percentages of women into scarf-wearing zealots and men into beard-cultivating fanatics. The latter is a little ironic, given the trouble many Austronesians (i.e. basically dark Orientals from Burma through the Philippines) have, with respect to growing significant facial hair.