William - Thank you again for an interesting post!
You write, "Racism is a difficulty, not a problem, because it has no solution, even if the whole world was brown, there would still be racism, brown eyes vs blue eyes". - My example for Darlington in northeast England in 1980 suggests that - whether a problem or a difficulty - there is a …
William - Thank you again for an interesting post!
You write, "Racism is a difficulty, not a problem, because it has no solution, even if the whole world was brown, there would still be racism, brown eyes vs blue eyes". - My example for Darlington in northeast England in 1980 suggests that - whether a problem or a difficulty - there is a solution, but maybe we haven't studied the issue from the potentially most productive angle.
You also write, "Therefore there is no chance of peace between Muslim and Jew, thus not a problem that can be solved. On top of which Jews are occupying what Muslims believe to be sacred Islamic soil, especially the Dome of the Rock". - Well, Norwegians have a 'sacred place', too, namely Eidsvold, where our Consitution was drafted and signed by a group of respectable middle-class men. Even so, we have forged friendship ties with both Denmark and Sweden. The reason is that the circumstances and context for the earlier conflict have fallen away. That's what is needed in the Middle East. One stumbling block - among many - is the (by now) much-debated Empire.
You furthermore write, "So we are left with the worlds greatest destabilizers, Religion". - I'm not so sure about that. The great destabilisers are demagogues who happen to feel in a religious mood and who are inclined to use religion to climb the sleazy pole of fame and infamy.
In fact, there is an ecumenical movement, where representative cognoscenti from various world religions meet to explore common ground - and discuss how to defend each other against common evils like secularism, materialism, Marxism, atheism, and unholy doubt. So, in Britain we were blessed with an archbishop who defended sharia law and a parallel sharia court system in Britain. This came as a suprise to many Brits - see https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/archbishop-of-canterbury-clarifies-defends-remarks-on-shariah-law-1.698017
This means that you conclusion, "Therefore there is no chance of peace between Muslim and Jew, thus not a problem that can be solved" - although expressed with logical certainty - could be incorrect.
You assert, "The Russian ethos and legacy is Imperialism, conquest, obliteration of ethnic identities. Well not with Stalin, he incorporated the various ethnicities into the Soviet Union, so long as they served him and his purpose". - Yes, you are right: Stalin tolerated ethnic minorities and even promoted them on the 'everyday' cultural level, but within the national state-framework of the Soviet Union. In the United States, such a process used to be called "the melting pot". I'm not sure what it's called now, in our current age of diversity, polarisation, and assertive thinking.
As for Ukraine: Putin sees it as part and parcel of a wider nuclear-strategic issue of Russian self-protection: the problem of keeping one's adversaries at arm's length, always and everywhere. I agree that this is a phenomenon that marks out super-powers and/or narcent empires. The Monroe Doctrine has the same aim. It is sometimes referred to as 'areas of interest'.
I overllooked an important difference between Judiasm and Islam and Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
The Scandinavians share a cultural heritage, and a racial one at that.
Jews and Muslims do not, In fact their cultures are at odds with each other, and Islam demands subservience, not only of Jews but of your culture.
As regards Sharia in England and Norway, or Islam in the west. Bear in mind that when you are a guest in some one else;s home, you are on your best behavior
In New York city, where there are a lot of orthodox Jewish communities, Jewish family law (Halakah or The way to behave) is practiced, only to the extent that it doesn't conflict with secular law. The communities even even their own family courts.
If a Jew doesn't like the rabbinical ruling, then he leaves the community and is then subject to the laws of the state.
Sharia is more than family law, it is law that governs society. Female Genital Mutilation is permitted, because women are not suppose to enjoy sex, and indeed it is practiced in Muslim communities in America, especially among the Somali community in Minnesota. Homosexuality is punishable by death, leaving Islam (irtidad) is punishable by death, and has indeed been carried out in America, disrespecting the Quran and Muhammad is punishable by death. Honor killing is permissible, and indeed many cases of honor killing in America.
Polygamy is permitted in Islam, and despite secular laws against it, it is still practiced (also by Fundamentalist Mormons, who have more than the four wives permitted by the Quran)
Sharia is much more than family law
Here is the problem that Islam has in Europe and even in Norway, and it accounts for the rise of the right.
Islam has never undergone the reformation of Christianity, and it can't.
For instance there is no substantial difference from a westerners POV between Sunni and Shia Islam. Their's is an intramural fight over who is the successor to Muhammad., not one of doctrine, ritual or tradition.
Were it not for Charles Martel in 732 at Potiers' or John III Sobieski at the gates of Vienna in 1682, Europe or most of Europe would be Muslim and living under Sharia.
If you are a misogynistic, homophobic , female dominating patriarch who can stop what they are doing and pray five times a day, then Islam is for you.
But here is what accounts for the rise of the right in Europe.
When a minority culture reaches 17% of the population, there is a tipping point, in which the values, practices, traditions of that minority population bleeds over into the majority population,and women start wearing hijabs, not wearing short skirts, men became authoritarians over their wives and children., conversions become more frequent, and before you know it, there are Sharia law side by side with secular law, eventually, Secular law is replaced.
And it isn't about race, although there is some of that, it is about culture.
Islamic culture and western culture are incompatible. Water and oil, and there is no emulsifier.
I personally,and most people I know, could not survive in an Islamic society.
We would be dead.
To be fair, there are Christian cultures, in America, that are just as bad, and are even more threatening. They threaten to take over this country via Trump.
They are called Evangelicals, Dominionists, The New Apostolic Reformation, an extreme group of Christian nationalists, sees Trump as the anointed person to help create a Christian state.
They are transdenominational, includes Protestants and Catholics.
Dominionism was found by R J Rushdoony and Ted Cruz's father Rafael.
it seeks to restore order and like the NAR replace the constitution with Mosaic laws.
The Mosaic laws are the 613 laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, well not all of them, not the inconvenient ones like don't eat pork, shell fish or wear clothing of mixed fabric,only the ones of social control. Like death for less than faithful Christians, rebellious teenagers, atheists, adulterers and the method of execution is stoning, because stones are free.
In the case of these Christians vs Islam the fight is not cultural, because they are on the same side of the culture war. It is religious.
Islam is supremacist, exclusive. It accords Christians and Jews,the right to their worship and traditions, so long as they accept second class citizen status as dhimmis.
The History of Christianity, since Constantine, is all or nothing. The reformation ameliorated the harm of Christianity, after hundreds of years of war, torture, slaughter and burning at the stake, there has been a detente between Christian factions, and they have proliferated, but they stand united against a common threat.
Myself I don't give a fuck, so long as I can live in peace, in a society rule by secular laws. If women allow themselves to be brainwashed into objects, like Islamic women and the women of many Christian communities, that is their business, so long as it isn't the law and culture I live in.
If your government is regressive, backwards and unable to even feed it's people, like for instance, Afghanistan, then that is their problem, and we shouldn't bail them out, for their choices, and it is their choice, for like Mao said, the revolution(govenment) swims in the sea of the people.
When the people can't live with their choice, their government, their culture, they flee to a more prosperous and free culture, but drag with them the garbage that created their misery, as if it were precious gems, and try to remake the host culture that welcomed them, into the same pile of shit that they fled.
Thus the rise of the right in Europe.
America is different, here it is pure racism and the fear that maybe low wage unskilled migrants, who can't speak English will take away high paying jobs that require skills.
However the culture of North, Central and South America is Christian, Evangelical, Pentecostal and Catholic and ultra conservative at that, a perfect fit with the homophobic, misogynistic culture of Christian America, so the only reason for anti immigrant politics is racial and economic.
The economic complaint is a farce, because the immigrants do jobs,that Americans feel are beneath them and don't pay well enough.
So it is racial. And I don't care about race, I wish the whole world was brown.
There would be one less reason for conflict.
In America it is racial in Europe it is cultural, with a smattering of racism.
I have no idea of what you are talking about vis a vis Darlington. I repeat a difficulty has no solution, and a difficulty is not a problem. You have heard of solving a problem or problem solvers, ever heard of difficulty solvers
You can't compare a religious/ethnic war between Muslims and Jews, to
Norway, Sweden and Denmark,all of which are Scandinavian and share a common origin and history. The attempt to do is does not speak well.
What is with you and your fixation on Empire? And the only Empire in your lexicon is America and the west, but not Russia and Islam.
You sure are a Putin apologist and partisan, you have an excuse for everything Russian and Putin.
Again, what is it with you and your obsession with Empire.?
William - Thank you again for an interesting post!
You write, "Racism is a difficulty, not a problem, because it has no solution, even if the whole world was brown, there would still be racism, brown eyes vs blue eyes". - My example for Darlington in northeast England in 1980 suggests that - whether a problem or a difficulty - there is a solution, but maybe we haven't studied the issue from the potentially most productive angle.
You also write, "Therefore there is no chance of peace between Muslim and Jew, thus not a problem that can be solved. On top of which Jews are occupying what Muslims believe to be sacred Islamic soil, especially the Dome of the Rock". - Well, Norwegians have a 'sacred place', too, namely Eidsvold, where our Consitution was drafted and signed by a group of respectable middle-class men. Even so, we have forged friendship ties with both Denmark and Sweden. The reason is that the circumstances and context for the earlier conflict have fallen away. That's what is needed in the Middle East. One stumbling block - among many - is the (by now) much-debated Empire.
You furthermore write, "So we are left with the worlds greatest destabilizers, Religion". - I'm not so sure about that. The great destabilisers are demagogues who happen to feel in a religious mood and who are inclined to use religion to climb the sleazy pole of fame and infamy.
In fact, there is an ecumenical movement, where representative cognoscenti from various world religions meet to explore common ground - and discuss how to defend each other against common evils like secularism, materialism, Marxism, atheism, and unholy doubt. So, in Britain we were blessed with an archbishop who defended sharia law and a parallel sharia court system in Britain. This came as a suprise to many Brits - see https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/archbishop-of-canterbury-clarifies-defends-remarks-on-shariah-law-1.698017
This means that you conclusion, "Therefore there is no chance of peace between Muslim and Jew, thus not a problem that can be solved" - although expressed with logical certainty - could be incorrect.
You assert, "The Russian ethos and legacy is Imperialism, conquest, obliteration of ethnic identities. Well not with Stalin, he incorporated the various ethnicities into the Soviet Union, so long as they served him and his purpose". - Yes, you are right: Stalin tolerated ethnic minorities and even promoted them on the 'everyday' cultural level, but within the national state-framework of the Soviet Union. In the United States, such a process used to be called "the melting pot". I'm not sure what it's called now, in our current age of diversity, polarisation, and assertive thinking.
As for Ukraine: Putin sees it as part and parcel of a wider nuclear-strategic issue of Russian self-protection: the problem of keeping one's adversaries at arm's length, always and everywhere. I agree that this is a phenomenon that marks out super-powers and/or narcent empires. The Monroe Doctrine has the same aim. It is sometimes referred to as 'areas of interest'.
I overllooked an important difference between Judiasm and Islam and Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
The Scandinavians share a cultural heritage, and a racial one at that.
Jews and Muslims do not, In fact their cultures are at odds with each other, and Islam demands subservience, not only of Jews but of your culture.
As regards Sharia in England and Norway, or Islam in the west. Bear in mind that when you are a guest in some one else;s home, you are on your best behavior
In New York city, where there are a lot of orthodox Jewish communities, Jewish family law (Halakah or The way to behave) is practiced, only to the extent that it doesn't conflict with secular law. The communities even even their own family courts.
If a Jew doesn't like the rabbinical ruling, then he leaves the community and is then subject to the laws of the state.
Sharia is more than family law, it is law that governs society. Female Genital Mutilation is permitted, because women are not suppose to enjoy sex, and indeed it is practiced in Muslim communities in America, especially among the Somali community in Minnesota. Homosexuality is punishable by death, leaving Islam (irtidad) is punishable by death, and has indeed been carried out in America, disrespecting the Quran and Muhammad is punishable by death. Honor killing is permissible, and indeed many cases of honor killing in America.
Polygamy is permitted in Islam, and despite secular laws against it, it is still practiced (also by Fundamentalist Mormons, who have more than the four wives permitted by the Quran)
Sharia is much more than family law
Here is the problem that Islam has in Europe and even in Norway, and it accounts for the rise of the right.
Islam has never undergone the reformation of Christianity, and it can't.
For instance there is no substantial difference from a westerners POV between Sunni and Shia Islam. Their's is an intramural fight over who is the successor to Muhammad., not one of doctrine, ritual or tradition.
Were it not for Charles Martel in 732 at Potiers' or John III Sobieski at the gates of Vienna in 1682, Europe or most of Europe would be Muslim and living under Sharia.
If you are a misogynistic, homophobic , female dominating patriarch who can stop what they are doing and pray five times a day, then Islam is for you.
But here is what accounts for the rise of the right in Europe.
When a minority culture reaches 17% of the population, there is a tipping point, in which the values, practices, traditions of that minority population bleeds over into the majority population,and women start wearing hijabs, not wearing short skirts, men became authoritarians over their wives and children., conversions become more frequent, and before you know it, there are Sharia law side by side with secular law, eventually, Secular law is replaced.
And it isn't about race, although there is some of that, it is about culture.
Islamic culture and western culture are incompatible. Water and oil, and there is no emulsifier.
I personally,and most people I know, could not survive in an Islamic society.
We would be dead.
To be fair, there are Christian cultures, in America, that are just as bad, and are even more threatening. They threaten to take over this country via Trump.
They are called Evangelicals, Dominionists, The New Apostolic Reformation, an extreme group of Christian nationalists, sees Trump as the anointed person to help create a Christian state.
They are transdenominational, includes Protestants and Catholics.
Dominionism was found by R J Rushdoony and Ted Cruz's father Rafael.
it seeks to restore order and like the NAR replace the constitution with Mosaic laws.
The Mosaic laws are the 613 laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, well not all of them, not the inconvenient ones like don't eat pork, shell fish or wear clothing of mixed fabric,only the ones of social control. Like death for less than faithful Christians, rebellious teenagers, atheists, adulterers and the method of execution is stoning, because stones are free.
In the case of these Christians vs Islam the fight is not cultural, because they are on the same side of the culture war. It is religious.
Islam is supremacist, exclusive. It accords Christians and Jews,the right to their worship and traditions, so long as they accept second class citizen status as dhimmis.
The History of Christianity, since Constantine, is all or nothing. The reformation ameliorated the harm of Christianity, after hundreds of years of war, torture, slaughter and burning at the stake, there has been a detente between Christian factions, and they have proliferated, but they stand united against a common threat.
Myself I don't give a fuck, so long as I can live in peace, in a society rule by secular laws. If women allow themselves to be brainwashed into objects, like Islamic women and the women of many Christian communities, that is their business, so long as it isn't the law and culture I live in.
If your government is regressive, backwards and unable to even feed it's people, like for instance, Afghanistan, then that is their problem, and we shouldn't bail them out, for their choices, and it is their choice, for like Mao said, the revolution(govenment) swims in the sea of the people.
When the people can't live with their choice, their government, their culture, they flee to a more prosperous and free culture, but drag with them the garbage that created their misery, as if it were precious gems, and try to remake the host culture that welcomed them, into the same pile of shit that they fled.
Thus the rise of the right in Europe.
America is different, here it is pure racism and the fear that maybe low wage unskilled migrants, who can't speak English will take away high paying jobs that require skills.
However the culture of North, Central and South America is Christian, Evangelical, Pentecostal and Catholic and ultra conservative at that, a perfect fit with the homophobic, misogynistic culture of Christian America, so the only reason for anti immigrant politics is racial and economic.
The economic complaint is a farce, because the immigrants do jobs,that Americans feel are beneath them and don't pay well enough.
So it is racial. And I don't care about race, I wish the whole world was brown.
There would be one less reason for conflict.
In America it is racial in Europe it is cultural, with a smattering of racism.
I have no idea of what you are talking about vis a vis Darlington. I repeat a difficulty has no solution, and a difficulty is not a problem. You have heard of solving a problem or problem solvers, ever heard of difficulty solvers
You can't compare a religious/ethnic war between Muslims and Jews, to
Norway, Sweden and Denmark,all of which are Scandinavian and share a common origin and history. The attempt to do is does not speak well.
What is with you and your fixation on Empire? And the only Empire in your lexicon is America and the west, but not Russia and Islam.
You sure are a Putin apologist and partisan, you have an excuse for everything Russian and Putin.
Again, what is it with you and your obsession with Empire.?
What gives?