Monday, 07 August 2006
 

Semi-connected thoughts
Contributed by Zero Ponsdorf

A "Best of Old War Dogs" featured post. The webmaster is backdating this post to keep it near the top of the blog for a while. Please scroll down for newer posts.

This item was originally posted 2006.08.04.18:16.

Under the weather here, and somewhat medicated, but on occasion some synaptic activity rises above of the fog, I think (hope?).

I'm still troubled by the term FASCIST when talking about Islamic governments.

1 often capitalized : a political philosophy,   movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often   race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic   government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social   regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.

That definition could reasonably be used to describe any and every non-democratic government extant, or that ever existed.

So, yeah, it fits well enough, but misses the mark when describing the threat to the west.

Internal politics may be ugly, but it takes the added dimension of IMPERIALISM to generate a threat.

2 : the policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the power   and dominion of a nation especially by direct territorial acquisitions or by   gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas;   broadly : the extension or imposition of power, authority, or   influence   <union imperialism>

North Korea, for instance, may be fascist, but has severely limited imperial ambitions. Cuba has both a fascist government AND imperial ambitions, but still practically limited - it's unlikely Castro will attack Houston directly.

Islamic imperialism, however, is the greatest single threat since the USSR dissolved.

Said another way; if Iran wishes to live as a fascist state, so be it! I would prefer it didn't. but it's not a threat to me and mine.

Islamic Imperialism perfectly describes the threat.

It's of note (but a bit of a side issue) that historically those countries and cultures that have fallen to Islamic Imperialism have NOT been converted to Islam by force, but dealt with as Dhimmis.

  From Dhimmi Watch

  Dhimmitude is the status that Islamic law, the Sharia, mandates for   non-Muslims, primarily Jews and Christians. Dhimmis, "protected people," are   free to practice their religion in a Sharia regime, but are made subject to a   number of humiliating regulations designed to enforce the Qur'an's command   that they "feel themselves subdued" (Sura 9:29). This denial of equality of   rights and dignity remains part of the Sharia, and, as such, is part of the   law that global jihadists are laboring to impose everywhere, ultimately on the   entire human race.

There were times in this country where we had a democracy but women and blacks couldn't vote. We could easily have a form of government that was a democracy, but non Muslims couldn't vote.

From Wikipedia: Spain under Islam.

Spanish society under Muslim rule became increasingly complex, partly because Islamic conquest did not involve the systematic conversion of the conquered population to Islam. At the same time, Christians and Jews were recognized under Islam as "peoples of the book", and so given dhimmi status. Christianity and Judaism shared with Islam the tradition of the Old Testament, and Islam considered Jesus Christ a major prophet. Most importantly, the Islamic Berber and Arab invaders were a small minority, ruling over a few million Christians. Thus, Christians and Jews were free to practice their religion, but they had to pay a prescribed poll tax. They were not permitted to build new churches or synagogues, and clothing conventions were used to mark them out. Conversion to Islam proceeded slowly at first but then at a steadily increasing pace, as it offered social and economic advantages and an escape from the humiliations of dhimmi status. Merchants, nobles, large landowners, and other local elites were usually the first to convert. By the eleventh century Muslims outnumbered Christians in Al-Andalus.

The Roman Catholic Church in Muslim Spain continued to function, although it lost contact with religious reforms in Rome. Muslim Spain came to include a growing number of Mozarabic Christians, people who adopted Arabic script and culture and preserved the old Christian rites from Visigothic times, that differed from the newer rites in Rome. Under some Muslim rulers, many Jews held prominent positions in commerce and the professions, and sometimes even positions in government.

The Muslim community in Spain was itself diverse and beset by social tensions. From the beginning, the Berber tribespeople of North Africa, who had provided the bulk of the soldiers, clashed with the Arabs of the Middle East, who formed the ruling elite. The Berbers, who were comparatively recent converts to Islam, accounted for the majority of Moors in Spain and they resented the sophistication and aristocratic pretensions of the Arab elite. They soon gave up attempting to settle the harsh lands of the northern reaches of the Meseta Central handed to them by the Arab elite, and, complaining of Arab duplicity, many returned to Africa during a Berber uprising against Arab rule. Over time the relatively tiny number of Moors gradually increased with immigration and cross marraiges. Large Moorish populations grew in the south, especially in the Quadalquivir river valley, the narrow but fertile Mediterranean coastal plain and in the Ebro river valley, south of Barcelona.

Like most parallels it isn't exact, but is useful because it offers a view of what we might expect. Imagine Islam laid over an existing democracy? Moorish Spain was NOT a fascist state.

Contributed by Zero Ponsdorf on August 7, 2006 at 01:30 PM in Best of Old War Dogs, Cuba, Current Affairs, Iran, Islamism Delenda Est, Zero Ponsdorf | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Sunday, 06 August 2006
 

Fi-del-i-to, Fi-del-i-to. ¿Mueres tu? ¿Mueres tu?
Contributed by Bill Faith

(Sing title to the tune of "Brother John")

Where's Raul-Do, Redux
Ed Morrissey

More information and less confirmation keep coming out of Cuba. The government in Havana keeps insisting that the Castro brothers still control the island, and the Castro brothers keep failing to appear:

With Fidel Castro still nowhere to be seen, military reservists, retired officers and decommissioned soldiers are under orders to check in daily at military posts.

[...]

Despite having power for the last five days, Dear Placeholder has yet to appear publicly on his brother's behalf. ... Now the Cuban military has ordered its reservists to stay in touch in case of a Yanqui invasion, but everyone knows that's poppycock.

The military needs to keep track of their reservists to make sure that they haven't begun a counter-revolution. And since an appearance by Raul would effectively quell any such thoughts, one has to assume that both Fidel and Raul have disappeared for a reason. The reason, according to Brazilian sources, is terminal stomach cancer for Fidel, as Oak Leaf at Polipundit reports:

“Cuban authorities” informed Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his party’s leaders that Castro’s health is worse than publicly acknowledged. The newspaper reported Castro, 79, apparently has abdominal cancer, and that the unidentified Cuban authorities said he would be too incapacitated to reassume power.”

[Read the whole thing here.]

Contributed by Bill Faith on August 6, 2006 at 01:19 AM in Bill Faith, Cuba | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Saturday, 05 August 2006
 

Former Soviet Leaders to Castro: Ignore Rumors
Contributed by Bill Faith

(2006-08-05) -- A troika of former Soviet leaders offered words of encouragement today to Fidel Castro as he continues his miraculous recovery from serious abdominal surgery while his brother Raul is so busy running the government he can’t make public appearances.

[Read on.]

Contributed by Bill Faith on August 5, 2006 at 10:59 AM in Bill Faith, Cuba | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tuesday, 01 August 2006
 

Carter Downplays Castro Succession Rumors
Contributed by Bill Faith

2006-08-01) — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter today downplayed rumors that he’s on “the short list” of potential replacements if surgery fails to restore the health of ailing Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

[Read on.]

Contributed by Bill Faith on August 1, 2006 at 01:54 PM in Bill Faith, Cuba, Dem Dumbness | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Let's hope so
Contributed by Bill Faith

Breaking: Castro dying?
Michelle Malkin

[...]

ABC News.com/AP:

Fidel Castro announced Monday night in a letter read by his secretary live on state television that due to illness he was temporarily relinquishing the presidency to his brother and successor Raul, the defense minister.

In the letter read by his secretary Carlos Valenciaga, Castro said he had suffered gastrointestinal bleeding, apparently due to stress from recent public appearances in Argentina and Cuba, and had to undergo an operation.

[Read on.]

Fidel Castro Has Intestinal Surgery
By Greg Tinti

Via Reuters:

Cuban President Fidel Castro underwent intestinal surgery on Monday and delegated government functions provisionally to his younger brother Raul Castro, the government said in a televised statement signed by the Cuban leader.

[...]

[Read on.]

Don't Hurry Back
Ed Morrissey

Fidel Castro has taken ill and turned over control of the government to his brother. The 80-year-old despot who has ruled Cuba for almost 50 years had a sudden bout of intestinal bleeding, requiring emergency surgery:

Fidel Castro temporarily relinquished his presidential powers to his brother Raul on Monday night and told Cubans in a statement that he had undergone surgery.

[...]

[Read on.]

***

Michelle: Dancing In The Streets

***

In which Allah steals my title.

Contributed by Bill Faith on August 1, 2006 at 05:22 AM in Bill Faith, Cuba | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack