Re: [metatuning] Digest Number 65

Joe:

>This is one of the most intelligent analyses of this situation I have
>yet seen. Thank you so much, John!

I've read better and more eloquent statements since I wrote mine, but I
think we're all having problems sorting out our conflicting emotions.
I've moved from shock through anger to depression and have been too
distraught to do any intellectually demanding work this week. With
luck, I'll not give in to despair and be productive again this coming
week, but I don't anyone has a just and comprehensive solution to
terrorism and its causes right now and there may not be one without
captitulating to a monstrous and repressive totalitarian ideology.
Civilization outlasted the Third Reich and Soviets, but this battle has
been going on for 1400 years.

--John

Cris, et al:

We are also protecting the Kurds in Iraq with the Northern No-Fly Zone,
and Bosnian and Albanian moslem in the Balkans.

The Turkish Kurds have also turned to terrorism, but AFAIK, the Turks
have not killed millions of them. Either for that matter have the Iraqis or
Iranians, all of which have large Kurdish minorities. None of these
states wish
to be broken up; no more than the USA did when Black radicals proposed a
"Republic of New Africa" in the terrritory of the old Confederacy in
the 60's.
Nieither will it tolerate Latino terrorism in this century to return the
western
states to Mexico.

Turkey's human rights record in the 20th century is not good, but the country
is trying to do something unique in Islamic history-- create a secular, constitutional
democracy in the absence of any tradition whatsoever in the muslim
world. In fact,
many moderate muslims consider the West's obsession with individual human
rights and constitutional government just another example of Western
cultural
imperialism and hegemonism and think that Turkey is no longer a true moslem
country.

Much the same is true of Asia where Confucian ethics prevail over western
ideals of individual liberty and human rights.

>but the gov'ts of Kuwait, (where we specifically PREVENTED democracy
from
>happening after the Gulf War), Jordan, Saudi Arabia, etc. are
un-ashamedly
>MONARCHIES.

Corrupt, oppressive, theocratic monarchies are the norm in the moslem world
where they have not been replaced by corrupt, oppressive, theocratic military
dictators. Would you prefer radical Islamic regimes in Jordan, Kuwait
and SA?

The UK, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Japan, Thailand, and the Netherlands
are all
monarchies too. Would you have us attack their governments?

Our mandate in the Gulf War was to stop Saddam Hussein's aggression
against
Kuwait and to protect Saudi Arabia, not overthrow the Kuwaiti government
and
impose our own political views on what is actually a quite liberal state
by moslem
standards. It is precisely this attitude that infuriates conservative,
but not yet
terroristic, moslems.

The Russian revolution and the resulting Cold War had a corrupting
influence on the
entire world. No one disputes that American governments have made some horrible
decisions and supported some real bastards out of fear of communism (or
just plain
greed, alas). But, democracy has survived both Naziism and Communism and
more people
live under freer governments than before.

A "Law of Return" for Palestinians would destroy Israel as a Jewish
state; they might as well
all move to NYC and become just another ethnic group in the US. It may
be the one point on
which the Palestinians will insist; in which case there will never be a
political solution to
the Palestinian question and the fighting and terrorism will continue.
However, the Palestinians
and Israeli's might learn to live with an imposed solution if the
Palestinians in the refugee camps were
allowed settle in the West Bank and Gaza under UN protection.

--John