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Gary Patton

Bringing Afghanistan's democrats out of the shadows - The World Desk - Macleans.ca - 0 views

www2.macleans.ca/...s-democrats-out-of-the-shadows

afghanistan Pakistan islamism Islam

shared by Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • it is not enough to oppose fascism; one must stand against totalitarianism in all its forms.
  • much of the left over the last decade has preferred to rally against make-believe fascism and imperialism in the United States or Britain, rather than recognizing its real mutations in places like Baghdad, Tehran, and Kandahar.
  • frustrated by the limits of his supposed comrades’ solidarity and internationalism. Afghanistan’s democrats — its students, human rights activists, women, socialists and secularists — should, by rights, be championed and supported by the western left.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • they’re fighting for these rights against an explicitly fascistic strain of religious and ethnic extremism embodied in the Taliban.
  • angered by the inability of too many of his fellow leftists to counter dictatorial thuggery in those with whom they shared a common enemy
  • this is possible, in part, because of what Orwell described as “the sealing off of one part of the world from another, which makes it harder and harder to discover what is actually happening.”
  • The book opens and closes with the students of Marefat High School, in the Daste Barchi slum of Kabul. In April 2009, they fought off a mob dispatched by a Khomeinist mosque whose members were furious because boys and girls at the school were studying together. The attackers threw rocks and sticks and demanded that the school’s principal, Aziz Royesh, be killed. Students barred the doors and stood their ground. The school remains open.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      The courage of these students is NOT matched by most ordinary, Street Muslims worlwide. The latter do NOT speak out loudly enough or take enough action agaist the fanatics among their co-religionists who kill more of them than so-called Infidels. Shame on them! They'll answer to God!! gfp (2011-10-07
  • we don’t know the students at Marefat High School, and we’re less willing to fight for them. We should, and we must.
  • Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
     
    "It is not enough to oppose fascism; one must stand against totalitarianism in all its forms." ~ Eric Arthur Blair aka George Orwell (1903-1950) English author & journalist In his book about Afghanistan, Terry Glavin, a Canadian, deplores the activities of Muslim groups whom he calls "explicitly fascistic strain of religious and ethnic extremism". gfp (2011-10-07)
Gary Patton

You Like Ron Paul, Except on Foreign Policy - YouTube - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

U.S. 2012 Election video Ron Paul Islam islamism jihad jihadism religion

shared by Gary Patton on 03 Jan 12 - No Cached
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 03 Jan 12
       
      One Serious Problem with the Blowback Thesis as the Route to Ending the War on Terror The campaign video by Mr. Ron Paul, Republican Candidate for President of the U.S. in 2012, at http://diigo.com/0m77j, recounts facts surrounding major mistakes in U.S. Foreign Policy going back to the 19th Century. The video documents mistakes made by Presidents and Congresses representing both major parties in the U.S. Many U.S. residents and Westerners do not know nor well appreciate the significance of most of these. There is only one factual and major error in it, I believe. "Blowback" certainly has worked to the advantage of violent Jihadists and their defenders and supporters among Islamic clerics, sheiks and jurisprudents. But, if the U.S. ever implements the approach argued by Mr. Paul and stops interfering in other country's affairs, radical and violent jihad against the West and democratic freedoms will continue unabated. Terrorism will continue unabated because it is principally religiously motivated by majority interpretation of the Qur'an. This is proven, I suggest, because of three key reasons: 1. What jihadist organizations say is their motivation when addressing Western media and what they say to Muslim media. Blowback for Zionist/U.S. actions has been claimed consistently by every Islamic terrorist group regardless of size as their ONLY "raison d'etre". This has been the taqiyya-inspired "liefare" used by violent Jihadists since the first Muslim Fedayeen of the 1950s attacked Israelis whenever they were directing their propaganda to a Western audience. However, violent jihad against the Infidel is what every terrorist group has indicated was their real motivation when speaking to fellow Muslims. Violent Jihadists are fundamentalist Muslims who read their Qur'an using an interpretation approach called the the Doctrine of Abrogation*. They are seeking to please their deity, Allah, with violent jihad. Only da'wa, Islamic evangelism can do this wi
  • Gary Patton on 03 Jan 12
     
    This campaign video by Mr. Ron Paul, Republican Candidate for President of the U.S. in 2012, recounts facts surrounding the rationale behind major mistakes in U.S. Foreign Policy that most U.S. Residents and Westerners do not know nor appreciate the significance of well. These mistakes were made by Presidents and Congresses representing both major parties in the U.S. There is only one factual error in it. "Blowback" certainly has worked to the advantage of violent Jihadists and their defenders and supporters among Islamic clerics, sheiks and religious jurisprudents. But, if the U.S. ever implements the approach argued by Mr. Paul and stops interfering in other country's affairs, as he suggests, which I pray for, radical and violent jihad against the West and democratic freedoms will continue unabated. Terrorism will continue unabated because it is principally religiously motivated. This is proven, I suggest, because of: 1. what jihadist organizations say is their motivation when addressing Western media and what they say to Muslim media. Blowback for Zionist/U.S. actions has been consistently claimed by every Islamic terrorist group regardless of size since the first Fedayeen of the 1950s attacked Israelis when they were speaking to a western audience. However, violent war against the Infidel is what every terrorist group has indicated was their motivation when speaking to fellow Muslims. (See The al Quaeda Reader for detailed documentation by it's author Raymond Ibrahim or his articles on the Web.) 2. the fact that more Muslims than non-Muslims have consistently been murdered by the variety of Islamic terrorist groups. This also has been for religious reasons manly alleged apostasy from true Islam stemming from a variety of causes as also demanded by the Qur'an. 3. What has the Islamic "bete noir" of Zionism got to do with Islamic terrorism in the Far East. The withdrawal of U.S. and it's allies, like Canada, from so-called interference in Muslim-domin
Gary Patton

"Islam, How it works" - 0 views

gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/...how-does-islam-work.html

jihad jihadism sharia islamism Islam

shared by Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • It is a comprehensive system regulating all areas of life. There is no separation between religion here, politics there, law there — therefore none between Islam and Islamism, either. Islamism is not an abuse of Islam, because Islam is different from our worldview.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      Many Muslims don't like the terms 'Islamism' and 'Islamist'. They say the former confuses a political ideology with a religion and, the latter confuses a moderate Muslim with a violent Jihadist. This expert argues there is NO need to make a distinction because there is none needed because they all mean the same the same! Oh my! Are Westerners being 'conned' by liberal, politically-correct media terminology when they use Islam/Islamism distinction? Is it really Muslim taqiyya (dissimulation)? gfp (2011-10-27)
  • the Islamic norms and values system regulates the living together in Muslim societies far beyond the religious realm in the narrow sense of the word: without Islam they could not work at all.
  • you needn’t be an Islamic scientist to analyze the sociology of Islam.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      One may not need to be an Islamic scientist. But, given the danger of western cultural biases that the author mentions below (highligted in red), westerners may NOT understand Islam and the Islamic mind. A further danger is that violent Jihadists use taqiyya (dissimulation) to launch and perpetuate proganda lies. gfp (2011-10-27)
  • ...22 more annotations...
  • the role of religion in the social fabric of Islamic societies is quite different from that of Christianity in ours. Islam does not only relate humans to the hereafter, like all religions do, and determine what is good and evil, but it also defines what is legal or illegal in a juridical sense, legitimate and illegitimate in a political sense, true and untrue in an empirical sense. Islam is, so to speak, the DNA of its societies: not only a religion but a social system.
  • Religions shapes the system of culturally valid and (by socialization) internalized pre-assumptions about issues such as truth, justice, morality, ethics, society, or violence; i.e. all the assumptions that precede actual political thinking.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      This a dangerous key to Westerners' failure to understand Islam & what we, not Muslims, have labeled Islamism. Islamism is distinguished in the West from Islam as a political ideology. Islam, itself, is a political ideology. gfp (2011-10-27)
  • these assumptions are not just shared in Islam
  • We use a certain terminology fit for describing our own culture, but not fit for that of Islam.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      This is very wise observation. Given this crucial point, the imporatnt question that arises is how do non-Muslims guard against the trap of cultural misalignment mistakes. I believe only Jesus Followers are eqipped to do this consistently and well because the power of Holy Spirit is available to us when we choose to walk in it and Him! (Galatians 5:16 &25) gfp
  • the widespread assumption in this country under which we perceive Islam — that all religions are equal or “want the same thing” — is misleading.
  • Islam does not generally outlaw violence, not even in a strictly moral sense.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      This is a demonic opposite of Jesus' commands to His Followers to be non-violent and wage peace ...not war. e.g. Matthew 5:38-45 However, when dealing with criminality, violent Muslim jihadism or other activities by which people can be harmed, Jesus did not tell us to hold our peace and be passive D.O.O.R.M.A.T.S. (Dependent Order Of Really Miserable And Timid Souls). e.g. Matthew 23:23-33
  • Blaise Pascal once said. “Jesus let himself be killed, Muhammad himself killed”.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      With even more contarst, I'd suggest: "Jesus teaches His Followers to wage peace and allowed Himself to be murdered; Muhammad teaches his followers to wage war and himself murdered others!" ~ gfp '42™
  • Violence in Islam has a structuring function: it makes a difference between above and below, i.e. master and slave, men and women, believers and unbelievers. Islam doesn’t define peace as a universal principle.
  • The Islamic concept of society is based on the division of humanity into “believers” and “infidels” — and Islam leaves no doubt that the “infidels” sooner or later have to disappear in history. “Good” in the ethical sense, is what is good for the spread of Islam; “evil” is any opposition to it
  • No, “Islam” means, in friendly translation, “devotion” and less friendly, “submission”. The word is derived from the same word-root as “Salam” (peace), but it is not a synonym.
  • it creates a tacit social acceptance of violence, provided it is directed against the “infidels”, even among those Muslims who are not individually violent.
  • Jihad is not just war. It includes anything Muslims do to bring the world under the law of Allah.
  • Therefore, I conceive Islam as a Jihad System.
  • the Koran refers in the latest, the Medinan suras — which are in any doubt, the decisive — relatively little to the “greater” jihad, the struggle for one’s own faith, compared with the struggle against the “infidels”, the so-called “lesser” jihad which is crucial in these suras.
  • Islam rejects the notion of a universal ethics by which all people have equal rights, no matter what religion they belong to, or peace as a matter of principle. Such views contradict not only the teachings of Islam, but its basic structure.
  • Islamism is only the political side of Islam, that is, in fact, no degeneration, but a part of this religion. The Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has said quite rightly that there is no radical and no moderate Islam, but only Islam.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      Succintly put!
  • The idea of an Islam without Sharia law is absurd, that would be — not like soup without salt, but like soup without water. Therefore, Islamists are quite correct when claiming to be in harmony with the Prophet and the Koran. And consequently these Islamists are not socially isolated, but very respected for their strong faith and respected members of the Islamic community.
  • Couldn’t there be an Islamic Enlightenment
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      Dr. Tawfik Hamid, among others including some Islamic scholars, would agree this is possible and fight at risk to their lives for its arrival. Tawfik argues that there is a big difference between fundamentalist, Qur'anic Islam, correctly interpreted, and what is promoted by all Islamic judicial jurisdictions. So Muslims who feel like Dr. Hamid are very much alone among the approximately 3.5 billion Muslims world-wide. His Website is www.tawfikhamid.com where he operates as a Muslim "voice calling in the wilderness".
  • Firstly, I repeat: That would undermine the basis of Islamic societies. Therefore, there is enormous social pressure which prevents this. Secondly, Islam itself is already in some ways a kind of “enlightenment” as Islam has questioned anything in Christianity that is paradoxical and dialectical, sometimes incomprehensible, and to bring it to a simple formula:
  • was our Reformation something moderate?
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      Some prominet & well-known Christian writers argue that the Christian "Reformation" actually reformed very little of what was and still is variants of what is really paganism. They document from a variety of historical sources, including the Christian Bible, that pagan practises are what are practised on Sunday morning by most traditional Protestant denominations in addition to both the Roman & Orthodox Catholic Churches. Pastor Frank Viola's book, where you can learn more about this thesis, is called "Pagan Christianity". Reverend Viola argues that Christians are NOT pagans, but their traditional Western churches and church practises are. gfp (2011-10-27)
  • in Islam, as a “back to the roots”, means just the opposite, emphasizing the validity of the political model of the original community of the Prophet, whose political profile I’ve already described.
  • there are already first indications of an Islamist turn of these revolutions,
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      Some of my Muslim Friends who live in Canada make an even scarier case than this author. My Friends are well-tuned to accurate sources of Muslim and other information other than the politically-correct and often-leftist, western media. These Friends argue that all the current talk about Arab Spring democracy rising from the ashes of Afghanistan, Egypt, Tunisia, and as I write, Libya is absolute and utter nonsense. One well-informed Friend says that the prior leader of Al-Qaeda in Libya has returned to the devastated country and is firmly in control of most anti-Qaddafi forces. Al-Qaeda people will win any election held in Libya in the coming months, according to him. No commentator or group that I've heard or read at this writing, including the internationally-respected and knowledgeable Stratfor, the geo-politcal analyst group, has yet to even hint at this reality. That the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood will engineer the same coup in Egypt is being suggested in some quarters, already. I sense the same radical Jihadish coup will take place in Arab countries, possibly even Saudi Arabia, all across the Middle East and North Africa. And I bet it will be accomplished under the noses of Western political leaders who will pay for and host the forthcoming elections at great expense to western taxpayers to extend democracy. Duh! I also sense a modern Muslim Caliphate is in the birth canal of the 21st century with Satan as both the father and mid-wife. I'm awaiting with interest to see what the living God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will allow and whom will be the wet-nurse, anti-Christ whom emerges to lead it. (Turkey's Ardogan is already in the running according to some experts.) gfp (2011-10-27)
Gary Patton

The future belongs to Islam- Culture - Books - 0 views

www.macleans.ca/...article.jsp

jihad future islamism

shared by Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11 - Cached
  • Likewise, the salient feature of Europe, Canada, Japan and Russia is that they're running out of babies
  • the salient feature of Europe, Canada, Japan and Russia is that they're running out of babies.
  • Sept. 11, 2001, was not "the day everything changed," but the day that revealed how much had already changed.
  • ...22 more annotations...
  • start with demography, because everything does:
  • Greece has a fertility rate hovering just below 1.3 births per couple, which is what demographers call the point of "lowest-low" fertility from which no human society has ever recovered. And Greece's fertility is the healthiest in Mediterranean Europe: Italy has a fertility rate of 1.2, Spain 1.1. Insofar as any citizens of the developed world have "big" families these days, it's the anglo democracies: America's fertility rate is 2.1, New Zealand a little below. Hollywood should be making My Big Fat Uptight Protestant Wedding in which some sad Greek only child marries into a big heartwarming New Zealand family where the spouse actually has a sibling.
  • this isn't a projection: it's happening now
  • Experts talk about root causes. But demography is the most basic root of all.
  • Demographic decline and the unsustainability of the social democratic state are closely related.
  • Age + Welfare = Disaster for you;Youth + Will = Disaster for whoever gets in your way.
  • By "will," I mean the metaphorical spine of a culture.
  • Islam has youth and will, Europe has age and welfare.
  • We are witnessing the end of the late 20th- century progressive welfare democracy.
  • For states in demographic decline with ever more lavish social programs, the question is a simple one: can they get real? Can they grow up before they grow old?
  • Which brings us to the third factor -- the enervated state of the Western world, the sense of civilizational ennui, of nations too mired in cultural relativism to understand what's at stake.
  • But there is a correlation between the structural weaknesses of the social democratic state and the rise of a globalized Islam. The state has gradually annexed all the responsibilities of adulthood -- health care, child care, care of the elderly -- to the point where it's effectively severed its citizens from humanity's primal instincts, not least the survival instinct.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      This is an insightful and interesting thesis!
  • They corrode the citizen's sense of self-reliance to a potentially fatal degree
  • may talk about "winning" the Cold War but the French and the Belgians and Germans and Canadians don't. Very few British do. These are all formal NATO allies -- they were, technically, on the winning side against a horrible tyranny few would wish to live under themselves.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      WOW!
  • it's hard to credit the citizens of France or Italy as having made any serious contribution to the defeat of Communism. Au contraire, millions of them voted for it, year in, year out. And, with the end of the Soviet existential threat, the enervation of the West only accelerated.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      Harsh, like Mr. Steyn often is to grab one's attention! But also true!! gfp
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      An interesting observation about which I hadn't reflected before. gfp
  • in the old days, the white man settled the Indian territory. Now the followers of the badland's radical imams settle the metropolis.
  • Thomas P. M. Barnett's book Blueprint For Action, Robert D. Kaplan, a very shrewd observer of global affairs, is quoted referring to the lawless fringes of the map as "Indian territory."
  • In the old days, the Injuns had bows and arrows and the cavalry had rifles. In today's Indian territory, countries that can't feed their own people have nuclear weapons.
  • Though Eastern Europe and Latin America and parts of Asia are freer now than they were in the seventies, other swaths of the map have spiralled backwards.
  • The enemies we face in the future will look a lot like al-Qaeda: transnational, globalized, locally franchised, extensively outsourced -- but tied together through a powerful identity that leaps frontiers and continents. They won't be nation-states and they'll have no interest in becoming nation-states, though they might use the husks thereof, as they did in Afghanistan and then Somalia. The jihad may be the first, but other transnational deformities will embrace similar techniques. Sept. 10 institutions like the UN and the EU will be unlikely to provide effective responses.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      This is the thesis of what one portion of the U.S. military calls Fourth Generation Warfare (4GW) i.e. what unfolded in Iraqafter the Liviatan defeat of Sadam Hussein when the U.S. did not pursue an effective nor efficient strategy of "waging peace" as strategy as argued in Chapter one of Dr Barnett's "Action Plan".
  • Four years into the "war on terror," the Bush administration began promoting a new formulation: "the long war."
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      Thomas Barnett's thesis in "Blueprint for Action" by the US is that the long war is waged as a "war for peace" fought by a powerful and numerous SysAdmin force of multinationals after the "hot war' is won by the US military 'Liviathan'. Iagrree that makes more sence than a 4GW approach which kees the West always in a "hot war". gfp
  • Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
     
    Article on the dangers of spreading Islam | Macleans.ca 2011-06.
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