15 rules for understanding the Middle East

Times Union ^ | 20 Dec 2006 | Staff

[RKV]

Not new, but relevant.

[Red Badger]

The only rule you need to know:

They want to kill us all!.........

[2banana]

Funny - no rule on islam and how it destroys everything it touches...

[NOLA_homebrewer]

ping for later

[RKV]

and rape our women and steal our stuff.

[theDentist]

... and both in a loud BOOOOOOM!

[theDentist]

Rule 6: In the Middle East, the extremists go all the way, and the moderates tend to just go away.

.... and both in a loud BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

(no idea how I messed that up before)

[Steel Wolf]

For a journalist, this is a suprisingly accurate assessment. Too bad that it's not more widely understood.

[Sooner1938]

"Funny - no rule on islam and how it destroys everything it touches..."

I strongly recommend everyone read Mark Steyn's latest book "America Alone". In the book, he asserts that Europe will be pretty well Islamicized (because of the relative birthrates vis a vis Muslims and all other Europeans) and that if the Dummicrats settle in for a long period of control, we can hang it up in this country too. Scary.....

I'm 69 years old and therefore don't have that many years left. Considering the state of the world and especially of what used to be my country (America), I'm kinda glad. Except I sure hate to think of the world my descendants are inheriting.

[RKV]

When you understand middle eastern tribalism you are half way there.

[MinorityRepublican]

There's no rule on that if there is a significant number of "Palestinians" in an Arab country, they will be expelled by the Arab government that does not want to deal with their problems.

[Allegra]

Rule 2: Any reporter or U.S. Army officer wanting to serve in Iraq should have to take a test, consisting of one question: "Do you think the shortest distance between two points is a straight line?" If you answer yes, you can't go to Iraq. You can serve in Japan, Korea or Germany -- not Iraq.

Ain't that the truth....

[Plutarch]

These rules are a lot more explanatory than anything we've ever heard from either the Bush Administration, Dems or MSM.

[Kevmo]

Bump for later reading

[Uncle Miltie]

"It gnaws at the people in the Middle East that such a small country as Israel, with only about 7 million inhabitants, can defeat the Arab nation with its 350 million. That hurts our collective ego. The Palestinian problem is in the genes of every Arab. The West's problem is that it does not understand this."

We don't have a problem. You do. Among your problems is that you think we have a problem. Schmuck.

[RKV]

Maybe God is not on the Arab side????? Arab imperialism must be stopped, so we in the West don't end up like those third world sh!tholes where the Arabs live.

[lightman]

When you understand middle eastern tribalism you are half way there.

Just read the Old Testament. "Eye for eye and tooth for tooth" is mainly a restraining order to limit vengeance only to part for part, not all of the guy plus his brothers plus his friends plus his brothers friends, and, what the heck, how 'bout the whole village!

[George W. Bush]

This is a great piece. You might want to post it on other threads from time to time.

Muslims in general and Arabs in particular are really not like us. This has always thwarted western countries when they get involved with these barbarians from the Dark Ages.

[publiusF27]

I saw rule 10 coming down the pike before the war began, I just didn’t know at the time that there were 14 other rules.

[MarkL]

Rule 11: The most underestimated emotion in Arab politics is humiliation. The Israeli-Arab conflict, for instance, is not just about borders. Israel's mere existence is a daily humiliation to Muslims, who can't understand how, if they have the superior religion, Israel can be so powerful. Al Jazeera's editor, Ahmed Sheikh, said it best when he recently told the Swiss weekly Die Weltwoche:"It gnaws at the people in the Middle East that such a small country as Israel, with only about 7 million inhabitants, can defeat the Arab nation with its 350 million. That hurts our collective ego. The Palestinian problem is in the genes of every Arab. The West's problem is that it does not understand this."

Ahhh, so simply put, Israel needs to be destroyed, and all the Jews killed so the arabs will feel better about themselves.

Mark