Monday, August 21, 2006

Are We Still Here?

Dawn has broken on the 22nd of August (in Australia, to be sure) and the West seems to still exist. At least insofar as its existence might be embodied in my own. Ah, but will we be here when the earth completes its revolution and the dawn of the 23rd breaks upon Australia?

Yep.

And my reasoned wager is that the West will be here when the sun sets for the last time on the death of a 7th century theology fit only for maintaining the relationship between master and slave. Not because of the inherent strength of the West, because that strength is not truly inherent, derived as it is from a mixture of adherence to dogma and the allowance a degree of latitude in the exploration of deviation from dogma which might (by some) be described as progress. The West will prevail because of the muslims blind adherence to islamic dogma without allowance for the potential for progress (which lies at the center of islamic theology). islam has produced nothing for a very long time. Even the potential breach of the gates of Vienna was only theoretically possible due to the willingness of French whores to peddle to the islamists the cannon necessary for the assault. (Why does that sound so familiar?)

The outcome of the contest is not in doubt. The decisive action may require a brief set aside of Westphalian convention in order to apply certain tactical applications of strategic necessities in order to conform Western objectives to the simplicity of the chessboard but that is a small matter. The West's opponent is still tied to his chessboard and necessity dictates adherence to his minimal understanding of his undertaking.

Investment Advice: Under no circumstance be lured into putting money into "Mullah Life and Casualty of Teheran". It just isn't a reasonable investment.

9 comments:

MeaninglessHotAir said...

Where I disagree with you is that I don't believe there's a conflict between the West and Islam at all. I mean, there obviously is, but that conflict isn't really worth worrying about. Because if the West made up its mind to have such a conflict, it would all be over very quickly.

So, the real conflict is within the West, because the West can't make up its mind, because the West is at war with itself. We now have prominent people such as Kevin Drum in positions of responsibility who have convinced themselves that helping the Mullahs is more important than helping Bush. This kind of deranged thinking is the real threat. This is the war we must win.

Unknown said...

It is strange how Islam began to go backward at about the time the west went forward.

So yes, I agree they can not win, unless we let them.

Rick Ballard said...

"They will minimally have to kill thousands of the younger Islamic males residing within their borders."

Not at all. The minimal requirement is to say "you're screwed" and follow through. The islamist strength only comes from a pseudo- western allowance of status that can be removed in a rather breathtaking fashion.

We aren't that far from a round up - and listening to the islamist squeals will be a form of music to many.

Those of minimal intelligence in Teheran aren't paying attention to the lessons of resiliance embodied in the West. The penalty for inattention will prove to be death.

truepeers said...

Hmm, I wonder what the mullahs and imams think of life insurance. In our 19th century, a lot of clerics spoke out against it - gambling with the lord - though it proved a key means of capital accumulation for industrial growth. A lot of the early sickness and life insurance business was in the form of fraternal organizations that combined motivating rituals and policing of moral hazards with their insurance programs. That history is just vaguely comparable to Hezbollah and its 12 grand for those it has left homeless - of course the moral hazard here is on the part of the leaders, not the rank and file (whose method of premium paying, is, well, not regular in the eyes of the free market), so the plan, however dependent on high oil prices, is sure to meet actuarial doom soon enough

I know one Muslim whose business is selling Canadian insurance in India and Pakistan. Of course there are local companies over there, but many people want to buy into what they think is a more secure currency. Makes one wonder how financially entwined the world is and the consequence for all the (re)insurance industries if a major war breaks out. In any case, there may still be time to get in and out of the life insurance business in Teheran, if there is one.

Anonymous said...

Rick, David:

The minimal requirement is to say "you're screwed" and follow through.

There are several ways of doing this, ranging from more successful assimiliation to outright expulsion. And in order to do it in whatever form, it means that the West must once again be guided by its traditional core principles. It means jettisoning the Post-Modern and the relativistic. It means lots of intellectuals and media types without audiences and without jobs.

As I've said, we know that war is an accelerant of technological change. But it is often an accelerant of social change, too. Faster, as they say, please.

Unknown said...

Peter:

Each action creates a reaction. Or something like that.

Unknown said...

My question was about the bright light over Jerusalem not Bush's press conference.

Unknown said...

The second resolution is supposed to have expanded Rules of Engagement, which is probably why the sissy girl Frenchies ran away.

cf said...

I take the Brits' refusal to get on a plane with a pair of suspicious looking "Asians" as a healthy sign. Drive these rational distrusts underground and watch what happens.......