Posted on 09/25/2006 5:22:07 AM PDT by RKV
“Islamic fascism” is the exact choice of words to describe Muslim Terrorists.
Well, the T-34 and the Katyusha rocket worked pretty well :-).
T-34 is to the Russians what the Spitfire is to the Brits
"Katyusha rocket"
That's BM-13 to you, fella. :-) Towed by a Studebaker truck of course. (much nicer than that POS Zil). The recent war in Lebanon/Northern Israel shows that "little Kate" still has legs!
I am a great admirer of Hanson and his felicitous writing style, and above all his perspective and sense of historical range, which goes way, way, back. And I think you're accurate in the way you've assessed his mindset as being of the "TR/Wilsonian style.". And I too, have, especially lately dreamed wistfully of retreat, working on becoming self-sufficient economically, and a revised form of isolationalism. But I think the genie has been too long out of the bottle, and there has been too much economic interpenetration globally, too many deals made, too many favors owed,etc. for us EVER to be able to disentangle ourselves. We would have to start in a thousand different places, or work on them one at a time: let's start by looking at all American real estate owned by foreign powers or interests not American, let's look at all American businesses whose manufacturing, assembly or simple phone bank outsourcing exist in other countries, (providing employment there), let's look at the BILLIONS made here by Mexicans that never get invested and re-circulated here, but instead go back to Mexico in the form of remmittances (nearly as much as comes into the mexican economy from PEMEX). By extension, let's examine how the Mexican government , regardless of how their current election winds up getting resolved, might become infinitely more corrupt by having 10 or 20 million less unemployable citizens THERE, but having them work HERE, and continuing to send 30,40,50 billions $$ in remittances back, eventually taking ALL the pressure off the Mexican government and its structures: they have the potential to become corrupt in an entirely new way. The preceding is just off the top of my head, but you get the picture, the genie is out of the bottle, the toothpaste is out of the tube, and the prognosis for isolationism does not look good, no matter how commonsensical it is.
You have many good points, of course. I wonder if the next up and coming economic power will make the same mistakes we and so many who've gone before have made.
What's even funnier is that Hanson ramblingly invokes Hitler, which would only make sense if we were talking about Islamonazis.
Hanson's become a bad joke. Does he understand religion at all? I think he's at least half-blinded by secularism, so he has to cram violent Islam into secular-political categories, rather than theological-political.
He should go back to tending his vineyards.
Thanks.
"Yeah, Mussolini is the first thing I think of when I think of bin Laden and Iraqi insurgents.
What's even funnier is that Hanson ramblingly invokes Hitler, which would only make sense if we were talking about Islamonazis.
Hanson's become a bad joke. Does he understand religion at all? I think he's at least half-blinded by secularism, so he has to cram violent Islam into secular-political categories, rather than theological-political.
He should go back to tending his vineyards."
Amen to all that! Actually, you're pretty smart for a bovine. :-)
Along with this we should not be swayed by the fact that 99% of Muslims appear to be Allah fearing good Muslims.
The 99% are enabling the 1% by providing cover and anonymity to the terrorist who hide among them.
By refusing to become "involved" they are in effect helping the terrorists.
It may be that Hanson invokes WW2 models (while also offering their more ancient Islamic equivalents) because
that's all our collective historical sense may still be able to relate to: he may or may not "understand religion"
as such, but he is not talking so much about the 8 or 9 hundred million "peaceful" Muslims, but the ones who have now made that religion more "political" than any religion on earth. And if were are talking about 1 or 2 hundred million potential ready-to-be-activated Jihadists out of a billion "co-religionists", that is ENOUGH for me.I have no problem with historical analogies whether they hold a pint, quart or gallon of water. We need some terms and reference points WE can understand to help us get a grip on the enemy, because he is otherwise so difficult to understand, and so intractable, and intransigent. I do not look forward to the prospect of massive carnage, but part of me still expects it. And history, unfortunately is full of it, and may not be revisable by hopeful idealism or denial.
Yep. Islam is built that way. The so-called moderates end up helping the hardliners in any event and we buy into their line. They don't take out their own trash and expect us to do the dying for them.
Well put.
"The preceding is just off the top of my head, but you get the picture, the genie is out of the bottle, the toothpaste is out of the tube, and the prognosis for isolationism does not look good, no matter how commonsensical it is"
It would take a second American Revolution ... just a thought, though Thomas Jefferson would approve. There's a line from an old Steve Miller tune: "You got to go through hell before you get to Heaven." Seems like an appropriate philosophy in this case.
My sense of where we are is 1) either we help them deal with the totalitarians in their societies (and I can barely work up any enthusiasm for risking our sons lives to do that) or 2) we destroy Islam militarily. I would prefer number 1 to work, and want to give Islam a chance to reform itself. That said, I give it less than a 50-50 chance of working. After another major attack on the US it will be time for number 2. No one gets to change my religion by force or threat of force.
I find myself in your corner.
"And I too, have, especially lately dreamed wistfully of retreat, working on becoming self-sufficient economically, and a revised form of isolationalism. But I think the genie has been too long out of the bottle, and there has been too much economic interpenetration globally, too many deals made, too many favors owed,etc. for us EVER to be able to disentangle ourselves."
It's like wishing one could be six again.
Thanks for the ping.
"It's like wishing one could be six again"
Pope Benedict opened the door and there's a fresh new wind blowing through the argument.
Personally, I prefer the term "Sand-Nazi." It is shorter (rolls off the tongue easier), slightly more accurate, and avoids the offensive "Islamo" part (though I hardly think Muslims would find "Sand-Nazi" a particularly flattering term).
Do it! Seriously. I have 5 grandchildren now. For them, suburbia has replaced the mountain I grew up on. Some call the changes over the past 40 years progress. To me those changes denote a watering down of humanity. These are trying times we're going through and we can no longer count on our neighbors, schools, or even our places of worship for support. I may have grown up under the "threat" of the cold war, but it was nothing like this. I've never been so afraid for future generations.
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