Arab Winter Setting In -- Gonna Be a Doozy...

[Tyrannical]

It is true though. The reason we see photos of reasonably westernised scenes in North African and Middle Eastern Countries about 60 yeats ago was because they did have very strong democratic and secular movements. As these were systematically suppressed under the jackboot of Western puppets, it created great disillusionment and created a vacuum ready made for Islamist extremists who have an attractive combination of "Faith and Fatherland" - ready made for successful recruiting.

I thought it was because they were ruled as colonial territories.

[Cormac]

It is true though. The reason we see photos of reasonably westernised scenes in North African and Middle Eastern Countries about 60 yeats ago was because they did have very strong democratic and secular movements. As these were systematically suppressed under the jackboot of Western puppets, it created great disillusionment and created a vacuum ready made for Islamist extremists who have an attractive combination of "Faith and Fatherland" - ready made for successful recruiting.

I thought it was because they were ruled as colonial territories.

Not quite. Ruled in a manner very similar to Roman client states. A small elite elevated to power over the majority (as we see in the latest revolt in Syria), rendering that elite dependent upon the external power.

When we add in the Cold War and since then the rise of China and the new fascist Russia, we'd a bad mix with which to deal.

[Coito ergo sum]

It is true though. The reason we see photos of reasonably westernised scenes in North African and Middle Eastern Countries about 60 yeats ago was because they did have very strong democratic and secular movements. As these were systematically suppressed under the jackboot of Western puppets, it created great disillusionment and created a vacuum ready made for Islamist extremists who have an attractive combination of "Faith and Fatherland" - ready made for successful recruiting.

What the....?

Dude -- prove your case.

I'll start. Beirut. 40 years ago+ it was the Paris of the Middle East. It wasn't "western suppression" that destroyed it. It was Islam and the wars to drive out Christians and Jews from Lebanon. They succeeded. Lebanon was once majority Christian. Now Christians are a small minority. And, we all know what happened to Beirut.

And, you can feel free to identify the "strong secular and democratic movements" in arab Muslim countries...lol.... I'll wait.

The history of North Africa, Arabia, and "Persia" since the Ottoman Empire began to crumble is a classic "Great Game" story in which the major powers have competed for control. In the pre-oil days, control of the Panama Canal, and since oil, control of the resource.

Control was easiest to establish through a series of puppet regimes and the deliberate suppression of entities such as a unified Arab state,(as had been promised in return for Arab support against Germany and the Ottomans). Then events like the creation of Israeland the betrayal by Britain of the Palestinians, the overthrow of (democratic and pro-American) Iran on behalf of Gulf Oil - a British planned but US executed coup which installed the despotic Shah. This by the way led directly to the rise of radical Islam in Iran as the people turned to the Islamic Revolution.

Because the West more or less was the number one foreign "ally" for despotic regimes it is the focus of radical Islam.

We've even been caught on the hop by finding ourselves on the wrong side in the so-called Arab Spring.

People in the region are very conscious of how we have deliberately stood against their democratic rights, and the USA as the lead country gets most of the blame.

In a culture where religiosity is high, and apostacy is rare and deadly, and democracy has been heavily discredited the opening is ripe for radical Islamism to attract mass support, which it does. It will continue to do so no matter how long the War on Terror continues. So American boys and girls are being sent to die in an unwinnable war which in reality is a thin veneer to cover the latest flavour of resource war in that hemisphere.

That rationalization is belied by the fact that between like 1760 and 1812 about 1.5 million "westerners" were kidnapped and sold into slavery by Muslim powers, and that the US had no interests or dealings or power over the Muslim world at that time. The avowed rationale - the stated rationale - expressly communicated by a Muslim ambassador to Thomas Jefferson was that the Qu'ran gives them the authority to do what they want with "infidels."

So, if it's the "oppression" from western powers that is causing them to attack westerners, then why were they attacking westerners before the westerners ever engaged in this "oppression?"

[Rum]

They're fuckin' nuts. It's their religion and no sex that does it.

..my strategic analysis.

[Coito ergo sum]

Former President Jimmy Carter spoke to students at Drake University in Des Moines today and was asked if he agreed with what Obama said about Egypt:

Carter: "Egypt is an ally of the US, we know Egypt well."

President Obama had earlier stated during an interview, "You know, I don’t think that we would consider them an ally, but we do not consider them an enemy."

Carter went on to talk about Egypt's new President, Mohamed Morsi, saying that he knew him well and that they had met. He added that Morsi was dedicated to peace and a democratic government.

Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/jimmy-carter/ ... z26S3QSG3r

[Coito ergo sum]

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - One demonstrator was killed and two others were wounded in clashes with security forces in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Friday in protests over a film insulting the Muslim Prophet Mohammad and against the pope's visit to Lebanon.
A security source said the man was killed as protesters tried to storm a government building. Earlier, a U.S. fast food restaurant was set alight. Twelve members of the security forces were wounded by stones thrown by protesters, the source said.
The U.S.-made film has sparked violent protests in Libya, where the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed, and in Egypt, Yemen and Sudan and there are fears the demonstrations could spread to other Muslim countries.
The protests coincided with Pope Benedict's arrival in Lebanon for a three-day visit.

http://news.yahoo.com/crowd-lebanon-tor ... 51873.html

[Coito ergo sum]

The World from Berlin
'Obama's Middle East Policy Is in Ruins'

http://www.spiegel.de/international/wor ... 55835.html

[Coito ergo sum]

Mob outside US Embassy in Londinistan. http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/mob ... 52335.html No word on whether curry dinner deliveries have made it through.

The German embassy in Sudan is on fire.

They've burned down a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Lebanon.

Protesters set fire to the American School in Tunisia -- http://live.reuters.com/Event/Middle_East They also set fire to trees in the US Embassy compound in Tunisia -- chanting "Obama, Obama, we are all Osamas,"

[Clinton Huxley]

Mob outside US Embassy in Londinistan. http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/mob ... 52335.html No word on whether curry dinner deliveries have made it through.

The German embassy in Sudan is on fire.

They've burned down a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Lebanon.

Protesters set fire to the American School in Tunisia -- http://live.reuters.com/Event/Middle_East They also set fire to trees in the US Embassy compound in Tunisia -- chanting "Obama, Obama, we are all Osamas,"

That's a pretty small mob in London. A nano-mob

[Coito ergo sum]

Well, then we'll just consider them a microaggression.

[Coito ergo sum]

Austin Texas nuclear plant evacuated due to possible Al Qaeta threat: http://www.infowars.com/nuclear-reactor ... in-austin/

[Coito ergo sum]

And, the White House spin doctoring starts -- Carney: Protests not directed at the United States http://freebeacon.com/carney-protests-n ... ed-states/ Riiiiiiggghhhhtt.... because the reason there were coordinated attacks on multiple embassies in multiple countries on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and the intentional murder of an Ambassador in a coordinated assault by heavily armed attackers, was because of a a 14 minute clip of a movie that may not exist and hardly anyone ever heard of and has been out on youtube since July....

Fuck you, Carney. Cut the crap.

[Coito ergo sum]

White House is very proud of Obama's record on foreign policy.... http://washingtonexaminer.com/wh-were-v ... FNo_o2ubp6

Well, la-dee-frickin-da.

[Audley Strange]

They're fuckin' nuts. It's their religion and no sex that does it.

..my strategic analysis.

Your words might sound glib, but I think there is something to that. Repressed sexuality in adolescents and young adults channels is fucking with a primary biological drive. That urge has got to be channelled out somewhere.

[PsychoSerenity]

Austin Texas nuclear plant evacuated due to possible Al Qaeta threat: http://www.infowars.com/nuclear-reactor ... in-austin/

You should probably try reading beyond the headline of right-wing paranoia blogs.