12/04: We Are Not Alone
Category: America and the World
Posted by: an okie gardener
As I have pointed out before, we are not alone in our fight against radical Islamists. Here is an embed account of fighting by British troops in Iraq. Link from Instapundit.
09/04: We Are Not Fighting Alone
Category: America and the World
Posted by: an okie gardener
From time to time we need to remind ourselves that we have allies fighting with us against radical Islam. Recently in Afghanistan
Australia is sending more troops.
Canada recently suffered its heaviest losses in a single day since Korea.
The Dutch Army is trying its own approach.
Germany is sending more planes.
British Marines on the offensive.
Australia is sending more troops.
Canada recently suffered its heaviest losses in a single day since Korea.
The Dutch Army is trying its own approach.
Germany is sending more planes.
British Marines on the offensive.
From Dean Barnett this morning:
"Fighting Back Was Not An Option"
"That’s what the released English marines said. They were outnumbered and outgunned. The Iranians had them surrounded. They don’t regret a thing. They couldn’t have won.
"'Fighting back was not an option' - Will those words someday be the epitaph of the Western World?"
Wow! Unlikely that poems will be written about this incident. I doubt that Tennyson could have done much with that brand of fighting spirit.
Just for old times sake:
"The Charge of the Light Brigade"
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Fighting Back Was Not An Option"
"That’s what the released English marines said. They were outnumbered and outgunned. The Iranians had them surrounded. They don’t regret a thing. They couldn’t have won.
"'Fighting back was not an option' - Will those words someday be the epitaph of the Western World?"
Wow! Unlikely that poems will be written about this incident. I doubt that Tennyson could have done much with that brand of fighting spirit.
Just for old times sake:
"The Charge of the Light Brigade"
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
04/04: Comin' Home
Category: America and the World
Posted by: A Waco Farmer
A good friend of mine is in the Middle East this week on business (unconnected to matters of state). His remarks are worth sharing with our blogging community. Although I do not have his permission to pass them along (not quite possible at this moment), I am confident that he will extend some mercy for my presumptuousness. Enjoy.
Guest Blogger: Linguist
Doha, Qatar, less than two hours to boarding.
Yo, good people of Seventh!
It hasn't been easy, all this food and fancy hotel and so on, but I felt it had to be done to make the way smooth for '09 (our motto: "It'll be fine in '09!"), checking out the scene around London, etc. And tonight, a farewell dinner that included Scots, so I can claim I was researching that part of the proposed trip as well.
Explanation: along with another couple from church, we are planning a European trip in two years.
The whole thing has been nutty, and I must say I'm glad to hear that the Brit sailors have been wisely released by the poker-playing Iranians, since my host here printed out a couple of articles today predicting missile strikes against Iran on Good Friday, just when I was hoping for some quiet meditation, call me selfish!
Seriously, though, there's nothing to be gained by violence, and my encounters with Iranians in the souk (market) today reinforced that impression: they were effusing about renewed friendship between the US and Iran. Heck, all they want to do is sell souvenirs, after all, and I obliged them.
Likewise talking to a Lebanese Christian (Francophone) perfume-selling lady last night at one of the malls: all optimistic about her country's future despite last summer's devastation which we were indirectly responsible for - people still want to love us, warts and all. If they're willing to forgive us Abu Ghraib, that's all very well, but we shouldn't be quick to forgive ourselves. She waxed lyrical about God's providing for them, and I seconded the motion. I wished her and all the other good Christians I met here, Filipinos, Indians (Goans, Keralites), Lebanese Maronites, Egyptian Copts (I learned that the very word Egypt comes from the old word for those early Christians: Gpt=Cpt) a Happy Easter.
In the spirit of ecumenism, in fact, I just wished an Israeli fellow-passenger a happy belated Passover, pointing out that I live near Crawford and that no American candidate for the presidency can proceed without the AIPAC's blessing. He loved it. I wished him mazel tov as well: it's the closest I could get to 'bon voyage.
I just want you to know I've been sacrificing, and it'll take another glass of that Chassagne-Montrachet (or maybe I'll switch to white...) and some of the baklava on offer here (maybe the cute little ones with pistachio filling) at the fancy lounge to get me though to boarding time and my flat-reclining seat. Whew! The things I won't do to be able to report to the team on what current conditions in Europe are like for a preview of the Big Trip! Well, someone's gotta do it!
Well, Lord willing and Andy Jackson's treaties with the Indigenous Peoples working out, I'll be back among you this weekend. Till then, keep the faith!
Guest Blogger: Linguist
Doha, Qatar, less than two hours to boarding.
Yo, good people of Seventh!
It hasn't been easy, all this food and fancy hotel and so on, but I felt it had to be done to make the way smooth for '09 (our motto: "It'll be fine in '09!"), checking out the scene around London, etc. And tonight, a farewell dinner that included Scots, so I can claim I was researching that part of the proposed trip as well.
Explanation: along with another couple from church, we are planning a European trip in two years.
The whole thing has been nutty, and I must say I'm glad to hear that the Brit sailors have been wisely released by the poker-playing Iranians, since my host here printed out a couple of articles today predicting missile strikes against Iran on Good Friday, just when I was hoping for some quiet meditation, call me selfish!
Seriously, though, there's nothing to be gained by violence, and my encounters with Iranians in the souk (market) today reinforced that impression: they were effusing about renewed friendship between the US and Iran. Heck, all they want to do is sell souvenirs, after all, and I obliged them.
Likewise talking to a Lebanese Christian (Francophone) perfume-selling lady last night at one of the malls: all optimistic about her country's future despite last summer's devastation which we were indirectly responsible for - people still want to love us, warts and all. If they're willing to forgive us Abu Ghraib, that's all very well, but we shouldn't be quick to forgive ourselves. She waxed lyrical about God's providing for them, and I seconded the motion. I wished her and all the other good Christians I met here, Filipinos, Indians (Goans, Keralites), Lebanese Maronites, Egyptian Copts (I learned that the very word Egypt comes from the old word for those early Christians: Gpt=Cpt) a Happy Easter.
In the spirit of ecumenism, in fact, I just wished an Israeli fellow-passenger a happy belated Passover, pointing out that I live near Crawford and that no American candidate for the presidency can proceed without the AIPAC's blessing. He loved it. I wished him mazel tov as well: it's the closest I could get to 'bon voyage.
I just want you to know I've been sacrificing, and it'll take another glass of that Chassagne-Montrachet (or maybe I'll switch to white...) and some of the baklava on offer here (maybe the cute little ones with pistachio filling) at the fancy lounge to get me though to boarding time and my flat-reclining seat. Whew! The things I won't do to be able to report to the team on what current conditions in Europe are like for a preview of the Big Trip! Well, someone's gotta do it!
Well, Lord willing and Andy Jackson's treaties with the Indigenous Peoples working out, I'll be back among you this weekend. Till then, keep the faith!
~~L.
Actually, in totalitarian nations the two groups overlap with independent journalists often becoming political prisoners.
In today's NR Jay Nordlinger gives extensive coverage to independent journalists in Cuba here.
I have always been dismayed by the infatuation many on the left have for Castro and communist Cuba. Castro is an unprincipled lover of his own power who had done hellish things to keep himself on top. I can think of only two explanations for those who applaud him.
1) The Jane Fonda Fallacy: my country is bad, therefore the enemy of my country is good. In international politics the example of the war between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia should dispel that muddled thinking. In real life the choice is not between pure and spotless nations and wicked and evil nations. All nations are impure, have spots, and to some degree are evil. But, not all nations are equally bad: some are far, far worse than others. See Augustine of Hippo for a Christian understanding of nations and their relationships.
2) The need to believe the millenium will come. All of us live by hope. For most of humanity hope is personal and limited: we hope to have a better job, or more money, or a nicer house in the future. Those who take a broader view of life also must have hope to live by: someday we will beat our swords into plowshares and the lion will lie down with the lamb. If you have given up on religious hope, how do you keep your secular version of hope alive? By believing that there are signs of the millenium you can point to in the here and now, as many on the left have done with the Soviets, and with Castro's Cuba. The need to believe clouds vision.
Castro and his regime are evil and the Cuban dissidents see this fact clearly.
In today's NR Jay Nordlinger gives extensive coverage to independent journalists in Cuba here.
I have always been dismayed by the infatuation many on the left have for Castro and communist Cuba. Castro is an unprincipled lover of his own power who had done hellish things to keep himself on top. I can think of only two explanations for those who applaud him.
1) The Jane Fonda Fallacy: my country is bad, therefore the enemy of my country is good. In international politics the example of the war between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia should dispel that muddled thinking. In real life the choice is not between pure and spotless nations and wicked and evil nations. All nations are impure, have spots, and to some degree are evil. But, not all nations are equally bad: some are far, far worse than others. See Augustine of Hippo for a Christian understanding of nations and their relationships.
2) The need to believe the millenium will come. All of us live by hope. For most of humanity hope is personal and limited: we hope to have a better job, or more money, or a nicer house in the future. Those who take a broader view of life also must have hope to live by: someday we will beat our swords into plowshares and the lion will lie down with the lamb. If you have given up on religious hope, how do you keep your secular version of hope alive? By believing that there are signs of the millenium you can point to in the here and now, as many on the left have done with the Soviets, and with Castro's Cuba. The need to believe clouds vision.
Castro and his regime are evil and the Cuban dissidents see this fact clearly.
03/03: Breakup of Iran?
Once again, Gateway Pundit is on top of the news out of Iran where violence against the government continues.
The fragility of the current regime can be seen in these figures taken from the CIA Factbook;
Unemployment rate: 11.2%
Population below the poverty line: 40%
Inflation rate: 15.8%
Public debt: 25.3% of GDP
Ethnic groups: Persian 51%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7%, Arab 3%, Lur 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, other 1%
Languages: Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2%
Median age: total: 24.8 years; male: 24.6 years; female: 25 years
Are we behind the current uptick in violence against the regime? I hope so. The Islamic Republic has been at war with us since 1979.
The fragility of the current regime can be seen in these figures taken from the CIA Factbook;
Unemployment rate: 11.2%
Population below the poverty line: 40%
Inflation rate: 15.8%
Public debt: 25.3% of GDP
Ethnic groups: Persian 51%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7%, Arab 3%, Lur 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, other 1%
Languages: Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2%
Median age: total: 24.8 years; male: 24.6 years; female: 25 years
Are we behind the current uptick in violence against the regime? I hope so. The Islamic Republic has been at war with us since 1979.
Category: America and the World
Posted by: an okie gardener
Stanley Kurtz is writing a series of suburb essays on Islamic society over at the National Review. This essay explains the role of "parallel cousin" marriage in preserving an in-group and its honor. (Arabs especially tend to view a first cousin on the father's side as the ideal marriage partner.)
16/02: Showing Our Cards
In my history classes, I often would compare world politics to a high-stakes poker game between ruthless players.
Iran has been at war with the United States since the Iranian Revolution and subsequent hostage taking. Now, Iran is doing its best to insure U.S. defeat in Iraq, including taking actions that kill American soldiers. All the while the Tehran regime is working furiously on a nuclear weapons program, constructing its own ace-in-the-hole.
Meanwhile, the Democrats in Congress are trying to show Iran our cards, specifically, showing them that we do not have the military action card. The mullahs are tough players. If they know the U.S. lacks the military strike card, they are confident that theirs is the winning hand.
Pelosi's comments here.
Iran has been at war with the United States since the Iranian Revolution and subsequent hostage taking. Now, Iran is doing its best to insure U.S. defeat in Iraq, including taking actions that kill American soldiers. All the while the Tehran regime is working furiously on a nuclear weapons program, constructing its own ace-in-the-hole.
Meanwhile, the Democrats in Congress are trying to show Iran our cards, specifically, showing them that we do not have the military action card. The mullahs are tough players. If they know the U.S. lacks the military strike card, they are confident that theirs is the winning hand.
Pelosi's comments here.
Category: America and the World
Posted by: an okie gardener
Once again Gateway Pundit is on top of the news out of Iran. More violence against the Republican Guards. As I have mentioned before, Iran is inherently unstable as a modern nation-state because of ethnic and tribal loyalties.
05/02: Instability in Iran
Category: America and the World
Posted by: an okie gardener
Gateway Pundit is on top of the news on the fighting inside Iran. Here. Iran is inherently unstable as a modern nation state, with different ethnic/tribal groups who do not support the regime. How do you say, Viva la Revolucion in Farsi?
