INTERESTING TIMES

I think this may be part of the reason that so many people have defaulted to supporting tRump.  At a gut level he gets it, that somehow the religion of Islam is motivating some people to kill bunches of hedonistic rich oblivious Americans.  We are The Great Satan, after all.  Our women roam around half naked.  We drink alcohol and eat so much that we can't get out of our chairs.  The Muslims who hate us find plenty to hate.  And the teachings of the religion are harsh.  Unforgiving.  Granted, most religions have some myths and stories that motivate hateful actions.  Most religions have a few fundamentalists whose simplistic interpretations lead them to extreme beliefs and behaviors.  Islam has a lot of people like that.  I am certain that the followers of ISIL think that American Muslims who don't help their cause are apostates, no better than the rest of us.  So given that there are quite a few Muslims who think we all deserve to die, and several at least who've been successful at violently killing Americans, being afraid of Muslims sounds kind of reasonable.  If the Dems don't admit to this, and begin teaching Americans about how they've been attempting to quell the fears of peaceable Muslims in order to prevent religious based warfare, they are missing the boat.  Blaming the Pulse shooting solely on easy access to guns is missing the very important point that currently there are a lot of people with this religious background who are motivated to kill.  We need to study them, to understand them.  They are not necessarily insane, they simply live in a different reality dictated by a different culture.  There are also a lot of Americans who are not Muslim who share their distaste for gays, their disrespect for loose women, and their instinctive hatred of other races.  Maybe you should be afraid.

Just yesterday I finally stopped ignoring the Middle East and looked up a few things. Like who is Shia and who is Sunni. And who has nukes and where. And what exactly an Islamist is. It was....a useful exercise. Anyone else out there taking an interest in this juncture of history? I'm ready to be educated.

It just seems to me, after one *ok a fraction of one* day of looking into it, that the majority Sunnis in most of the Middle East have been supremely frustrated trying to deal with their less conservative, more secular Shia neighbors. And it seems clear to me that America has at least attempted to enact a separation of church and state, even though those words do not appear in the constitution. It was in the First Amendment to the US Constitution that Congress was to "make no law respecting respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". As wikipedia points out, lots of nations have this idea in their code, and there is a great range of shades of gray in its execution. Here in America we do fairly well, but nowhere near a perfect score. For one thing, the constitution has no control over the states and what local laws might be passed. Which may be how we have gigantic crosses along Interstate 5 in Washington State. Not so different from other places, where religion is supposed to guide personal and political life. Here we seem only able to elect Christian presidents. We like to think that we are above it, but we are surely not.

So I know I am rambling and I will call it quits. If you have an opinion about what is the crux of what is going on--in Syria, Turkey, Kurdistan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Russia or any other involved party, feel free to comment and tell me! I'm building a mind map.

**Created Syria tag.

Ahmadinejad actually carried out a “personnel revolution” to change the composition of his Cabinet of Ministers. In that sense, we can agree with the interpretation of Middle East Institute President Evgeny Satanovsky, who said that Ahmadinejad had “made preparations for an internal coup by changing the format of power,” which shows that the clergy has lost influence in the country. Many experts believe that the top brass of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and the leadership of the Basij militia, which is headed by Ahmadinejad, could now take power in Iran. Incidentally, that may create an extremely favorable context for the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear problem at the talks scheduled for late January in Istanbul. If they actually succeed in achieving the breakthrough everyone expects in Iran’s relations with the rest of the world, Salehi will have a real chance of gaining a firm foothold on his new position.

This article was originally in Russian and I found it here on his LJ journal_neo. While the translations are sometimes a little difficult for me to follow, he usually gives a completely different perspective than what you find in the US or British media.

The Daily Dish (Andrew Sullivan) is tracking the events starting with this post. I got a sense of what is going on from his posts, and you can too if you want, before the corporate news delivers their milquetoast spin. It's not pretty, or safe. The chant you hear repeated in this clip translates to “I will kill, I will kill, those who kill my brother!”. The Green Revolution protestors seem to be organized, and to be obstructing both security forces and the Baseej militia. There are indications that the rebellion strives to remain non-violent. Some police are refusing orders to fire on the protestors. But still the bloodshed is increasing. It appears that Mousavi may have been martyred. The videos reveal that no matter how awful the violence becomes, the people are determined to document their situation and reveal the barbarism to the world. The internet is changing things. Back in 1979 there was no such information transfer. Ashura (the holiday) has a theme of resistants to tyranny to the last drop of blood, and it seems to be a driving force in the timing of this rebellion.


If the link above, to the beginning of the Daily Dish coverage of this event, has failed to work, try this one: http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451c45669e201287683b7d8970c

This Washington Post story is particularly rich. First, the man with the guns was an Army major, and the location of the shooting was in a US military processing center in Virginia. Second, he was a psychiatrist and a doctor in the Medical Corps. Third, he was a devout Muslim, born of Palestinian parents in the US. Fourth, he was about to be deployed. Five, he disagreed with the US wars in the Middle East. Six, he opened fire with two handguns killing 11 military and police men and injuring another 31 before he was shot dead. Seven, there was the suspicion that other men were also shooting people but they were questioned and released. There are lots more details, but just that bit of info is ample food for thought. EDIT: Initially it was reported that the shooter was killed in the incident, but now they're saying he's alive and in stable condition. So we will know the motive, eventually.

Can you tell what kind of tree is growing from the shoe?
Image of the "goodbye kiss" to an American "dog", made immortal:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/middle_east_enl_1233258254/html/1.stm
The article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7859444.stm
Video:

This is the chess master on Real Time with Bill Mayer, and he is....a genius. Not just about chess. I laughed hard, too, because he says things that are totally unPC in the US media, and gets away with it because....he's RIGHT.

(link disappeared, not sure where to find this now)

http://indcjournal.com/
I have enjoyed reading this journal from an imbedded reporter.
It has a little info beyond what you'd expect from being "imbedded".