tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19209018.post2082880067218645890..comments2024-03-28T14:32:19.334+00:00Comments on Who Would Have Believed The Singularity Would Be So Stupid?: James K. Polk: California - He Stole It Fair And Square And What Does This Have To Do With Kosovo?Pastoriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169561459129778670noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19209018.post-37899098128216332582008-02-25T02:37:00.000+00:002008-02-25T02:37:00.000+00:00Don't you wonder if the Serbians treat the Kosovar...Don't you wonder if the Serbians treat the Kosovarans the way they do precisely because the Kosovarans, when left to their own devices, behave like Muslims tend to behave all over the world?<BR/><BR/>Or, is it that the Kosovaran Muslims are, like the Sufis in the Sudan, a rare breed of peaceful Muslims.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, as to my writing, I usually just post other people's articles with short commentary. However, when I write a longer piece and propose an idea, it is usually of the "Modest Proposal" variety, except that, in a way, I mean it.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, let's be serious for a second. The truth is, Al Qaeda has made inroads in Kosovo:<BR/><BR/>http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/12/keeping_kosovo_from_becoming_a.php<BR/><BR/>"if these were not problems enough, there is a growing risk that terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda will seize on this situation to step up indoctrination, recruitment, and training of new adherents. US intelligence agencies have indicated that al-Qaeda adherents were quite active in the Balkans throughout the Bosnia War, and that they assisted in the training of some KLA units. Yossef Bodansky claimed in his book, Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America, that Muhammad al-Zawahiri, the engineer brother of Ayman al-Zawahiri, played a key role in this regard. .<BR/><BR/>The Bosnia war mujahadeen could well serve as a model for further recruitment action, especially if the political and economic situation in Kosovo rapidly deteriorates. Several radical Islamic groups have already taken strong root in Kosovo with the support of at least 10 major Islamic non governmental organizations working the streets. The largest of these, the Wahabbi sponsored Saudi Joint Relief Committee (SJRC), has been a major proponent of introducing fundamentalist Islamic instruction in Kosovo schools. This pressure has been resisted so far by the governing UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), but it is far from clear that this policy will hold when they leave. The International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), the Muslim World League, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), Al Rasheed Trust, Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, and other Wahhabi sponsored charitable organizations have also been very active Kosovo, UNMIK closed down the Al-Haramain and Al Rasheed operations after they were designated by the Al Qaeda and Taliban sanctions Committee. UNMIK also raided a house rented by the SJRC in Pristina in April 2000, stating the organization was acting as a cover for several Usama bin Laden operatives. <BR/><BR/>Iran Mullahs and the Muslim Brotherhood are also reportedly active in supporting Mosques and learning and social centers throughout Kosovo."<BR/><BR/><BR/>I've also read of Al Qaeda training figthers in Kosova who then ended up fighting in places as disparate as Afghanistan, Chechneya, and Iraq.<BR/><BR/>What do you think? Do we wait and see, then, if Kosovo will be a quiet little outpost of Islam, given its own government?<BR/><BR/>I guess so.<BR/><BR/>See, to me that answers sounds just as "experimental" as my crazy idea.<BR/><BR/>Do you see what I mean?Pastoriushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03169561459129778670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19209018.post-43204194877423084982008-02-25T01:48:00.000+00:002008-02-25T01:48:00.000+00:00Actually - this was the first piece of yours I've ...Actually - this was the first piece of yours I've ever read. So I had to use it as a guide to where you were coming from...<BR/><BR/>Uh, I don't think we established anything like a democracy in Iraq, although I do think it's amazing that elections were held there. I'm not convinced you can take a society like that and just bring about a democracy with Western values by force. I'm not on the side arguing that we have no RIGHT to try to set up westernized societies in places where their tribal mess threatens to spill over into a danger to our own way of life...or even to intervene in places (Darfur, Kosovo) when there are genocides going on. I think we have a moral obligation to do so.<BR/><BR/>That doesn't mean we can do all the world's dirty work, though; and I think it's really important to examine our motivations. Polk's motivation wasn't to liberate poor Mexican sharecroppers from their own government. And it's a vast oversimplification, obviously, to compare California to Kosovo, not least because American Californians haven't been massacring Mexican Californians and burning their villages. And if that were the state of things in California, sure I'd support the Mexcans' right to secede and have a government that represented them. I mean, that's democracy.<BR/><BR/>And yeah, the scourge of Islamic Extremism is worse than that of Western Imperialism. It's just that in the case of Kosovo, that isn't the choice. It's a false choice promoted by liberals and conservatives alike. People who are genuinely for democracy -- for the self-determination of all people -- are as against overbearing religious ideologies as they are against invasive corporatism and government secrecy. Those are two sides of the same coin -- totalitarianism.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the response. I'll check out more of what you have to say so I can get a broader view.JShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13402949175294211564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19209018.post-58786917049742149122008-02-25T01:13:00.000+00:002008-02-25T01:13:00.000+00:00I think you have a good point. I think my article ...I think you have a good point. I think my article here is a bit overboard and unfair. That's why I called it an experiment in moral thinking.<BR/><BR/>My point in doing "the experiment" (I hope you are laughing at the phrase) is, simply, for us to look at conquest in a different manner. We have been so loath to push our ideas on people, out of fear of being imperialistic, that we have deprived the world of that which is good about us.<BR/><BR/>I do support Democracy in Iraq. <BR/><BR/>AND,<BR/><BR/>I don't think we established a Democracy in Iraq.<BR/><BR/>When we say Democracy, we don't simply mean voting. What we mean is a Democratic Republic with a Constitution which protects a Western idea of Human Rights.<BR/><BR/>To the extent that the framers of the Iraqi constitution meant for Sharia to be law in Iraq, Iraq does not have a Constitution which protect Human Rights.<BR/><BR/>Do you agree with me on that?<BR/><BR/>By the way, you seem to be familiar with my writing, which I guess would mean you have read me on and off over the years.Do you think I often let my venom stop me from thinking rationally?<BR/><BR/>Oh, and another by the way, I found this post hard to write, because it was a challenge to think that way. It's not the way I ordinarily think. It seems clear to me that we can't go around the world taking people's governments away from them. <BR/><BR/>At the same time, which is worse, the scourge of Islam (as it is in most of the ME), or the scourge of Western Imperialism?Pastoriushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03169561459129778670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19209018.post-14560126624785728302008-02-25T00:46:00.000+00:002008-02-25T00:46:00.000+00:00So I don't get it. You support democracy in Iraq -...So I don't get it. You support democracy in Iraq - that's good. You support Israel, as the only democracy in the middle east, and that's good, too. Why don't you support the right of Albanians, living in their own land which is being ruled by the Serbs who massacred them just a few years ago, to their own self-determination? It's not like their great-great grandparents lost the land; this is a conflict that's ongoing. Saying it'll turn out like Mexico is kind of ridiculous. Besides which, Mexico's system of patronage goes back to the, ahem, Spanish monarchy. (Or is it that you think they mixed their blood too much and just aren't white enough to understand democracy...is that the unspoken assertion here?)<BR/><BR/>Y'know, I think you're largely right about Islam...but your venom seems to stop you from looking at things rationally. You don't like the idea of Muslims butting up against Christians in Europe... you and the Serbian paramilitaries and Vlad the Impaler. I mean, hello? There've been Muslims in the Balkans for a thousand years now or so...? Most of them, for most of that time, peasant farmers indistinguishable at a glance from the people around them?JShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13402949175294211564noreply@blogger.com