tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post2585659518927032359..comments2024-03-29T02:03:49.151-04:00Comments on History Unfolding: ISIS and the clash of civilizationsDavid Kaiserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05020082243968071584noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-38468780651639570982016-01-12T20:58:37.780-05:002016-01-12T20:58:37.780-05:00Professor
Great post. Americans have been taught ...Professor<br /><br />Great post. Americans have been taught there is no clash.<br /><br />I would point out, though, that Huntington had said, rather pointedly, as you no doubt quite well know as well, that radical Islam was not, itself, the problem, for the West.<br /><br />Rather, the problem for the West has, for a thousand years at least, been Islam itself.<br /><br />all the bestBozonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18078858723231122013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-83087349803765751862016-01-11T10:46:41.602-05:002016-01-11T10:46:41.602-05:00Thank you for this thoughtful analysis. It implie...Thank you for this thoughtful analysis. It implies that the American public would not agree with two necessary actions, one operational and one strategic, which would be necessary for the West to bring stability to the Middle East, specifically to Syria and Iraq. Operationally, all out war, e.g., the carpet bombing of Raqqa and its ensuing carnage would be repugnant to Americans in this day of 24-hour news coverage. Strategically, Americans are strongly opposed to occupation of these countries by Western forces, and especially to the draconian measures that would be necessary for the a US led coalition to maintain control and order in them. Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11629116622092214120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-88363302016033481402016-01-10T01:08:38.923-05:002016-01-10T01:08:38.923-05:00Thank you very much for this; it's the best su...Thank you very much for this; it's the best summary of the strategic situation I've seen in some time.Rupert Chapmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07007234333289329849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-153181666885227582016-01-09T10:17:53.516-05:002016-01-09T10:17:53.516-05:00Thank you for such a perceptive analysis. I learn...Thank you for such a perceptive analysis. I learned a lot that I had never thought of.Assurance-First-Assurancehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03957716561174470697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-84916831080619239032016-01-09T08:20:09.361-05:002016-01-09T08:20:09.361-05:00The middle east is like balkans for WWI. We all ar...The middle east is like balkans for WWI. We all are sliding into WWIII. USA supports sunnis, Russia and China shia.The muslim civil war is a proxy war using failed statres as territiory. Foreign troops from muslim population in maghreb, china, russia, western europe are cannon fodder.The refugee crisis is tearing EU apart and creating extreme internal strife politically in western europe due to behaviour of refugees vs. postwar antiracist ideology. Due to large muslim populations in Europe, Russia, China the war cannot be ignored as it is carried back to uswith returnee terrorists, immigrant waves, etc. Merkel tries to be politically responsible, absorbing refugees. Putin has likewise a logical approach to stopping ISIS. USA/nato has acheived very little against ISIS, training its members and arming them by indirection and Turkey's behaviour leaves me disgusted at its absolute realpolitical cynicism. Saudi behaviour is if possible, worse. Russia shia axis against lax western sunni alliance is fighting for control of ancient near east heartland as Romans against persian powers did. Saudi regime is a monarchy of one family. Felling it would change the dynamic. A saudi sunni republic as the shia one in Iran would be more radical with a Bin Laden demagogue as fuhrer. This would ensure an all out war to the last drop against shias. <br /><br />Why did we have the two world wars in europe and asia? We were in a political reformation phase. Thirty years war ws a religious reformation. The last wars were about political freedom and power blocs. Once standard democratic and economic systems emerged one had a consensus as to how to live. Post cold war the ex communists came more to the western consensus. Islam and in particular gulf kingdoms, have less acceptance of this system . Iran, etc. have elections, free markets. Saudi majlis is not serious. Egyptian democracy is a military fig leaf and Turkey is hollowing out its system of westernization built up under kemal ataturk. <br /><br />Often people complain of a democracy deficit in West, due to lobbyists, press control by murdoch, and similar financially ideological parties.So perhaps the post war consensus based on growth bringing global participatory democracy has partially succeeded in new countries and receded partially in old democracies. What we have is a stalemate. The relization being that a cynical standoff exists between national interests, billionaires, etc. in background of the idealized, pseudo democracies. Communism, democracy, fascism were formal excuses for last big war as is religion now. It is a pwer play. Persians are indo-europeans, saudis are arabs. Cultural feeling in region varies from lebanon to morocco. Many are westernized, others radicalized, most moderate, go with flow of masses(headscarf is in this year and twenty years ago seen as freakish for example). If an all out middle eastern islam war broke out with millions of egyptian, saudi, iranian troops marching and city carpet bombing as in WWII then perhaps a unitary secular system could emerge. As long as oil is there however this area will be of interest to foreign interference and peace will not reign. Energyflowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14476915209268786507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-10145481137641756622016-01-09T07:00:08.126-05:002016-01-09T07:00:08.126-05:00Though I suppose there is always a flicker of hope...Though I suppose there is always a flicker of hope somewhere that reconciliation between the Sunni and Shia tribes can occur, as you suggest, it is about as likely to happen at this stage as a Netanyahu Israel is to allow a Palestinian state.Larryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13733155849517667884noreply@blogger.com