می بخور، منبر بسوزان - مردم آزاری نکن

Are we Entering Another Dark Age?

 //www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/18/1101012/-Are-we-Entering-Another-Dark-Age

All Oppression Creates a State of War--Simone De Beauvoir

فرامرز جان

You are right, it is a process, and a very slow one for some, but an impossible one for others.

Being true to my racist Iranian roots, I believe that certain countries are more fit for certain types of government.

I don't agree with the optimists, who argue that given enough time; even a group of monkeys with a bunch of typewriters can produce plays as good as Shakespeare's.

Now, don't take me wrong ... it doesn't mean that I find the savage African or the barbaric Middle Eastern to be "worse" than the liberal European. They are all "good" (valid and suitable to their own conditions) ... but on distinctly different evolutionary paths.

Oh, and I (a barbarian at heart) prefer to live among the liberals, who can tolerate me!

Dear ILI: love has nothing to do with politics, which is the art

... of seeking power and maintaining power.

Israel's survival in the tough Mid East neighberhood depends on maintaining a position of undisputable and fearsome power. Anything less than that, and Israel will be susceptible to all sorts of attacks.

For that reason, Israel cannot and will not ever trust another Mid East country, beyond a very cautious point. E.g. the case of Turkey is very telling; which was a close ally of Israel for a long time, with much military ties (like Iran pre 1979).

Therefore, Israel can only behave like a porcupine, always with guards up and ready to attack ... attacks that can inflict bloody and expensive damage on any enemy willing to try to "wipe Israel off the map" ... and no shortage of those in Mid East.

You know; Israel has seen all sorts of systems coming and going through the Middle East ... British, Ottoman, Royal Egypt and Jordan and Iraq and Syria, Naserists and Baathists and Islamists. The only constant thing facing them: enemies bent on destroying the Jewish Nation.

No, Israel does not love Iran, or any other country in the Mid East. Israel is only worried about all of us ... and for a number of good reasons too!

Dr. Shazdeh, great observations, but wrong conclusions!

Muslim brotherhoods will destroy Egypt beyond recognition! That's why alliance and love between Iran and Israel will be ever more important and necessary. Once, IRR is collapsed with the help of Israel (Lord Moses willing) Israel and Iran will build a unified front against Islamists. 

Shlomo Loves Israel

Shazde Jaan

Democracy is not an end state; it is an ongoing process, as we know.

It takes educated, and well-off population and daily diligence to have a democratic society and defend its ideals.

Middle Eastern countries like Egypt, Libya and Tunisia are taking baby steps in that direction. But it requires time. Take a look at Turkey for example. It needed an Ataturk, military Juntas, NATO membership and EU pressures to get it to the point that it is in today.

And besides both Jordan and Morocco contradict your observation

Until further notice the following Semi Democratic Monarchies haven't cracked down on their populations as some of your Semi Democratic Republics have ...

Jordan king orders release of jailed activists accused of "insulting" him

Strauss father of Neocons

Evolution is perhaps the logical conclusion for orchestrating this Straussian design but the cost are too steep and might even be irreversible. Time will only tell.

//www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EE09Ak01.html

The above article dovetails with the below.

//www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-vandyke/why-islamists-winning-ele_b_1398261.html

"Secular society in their view is the worst possible thing," because it leads to individualism, liberalism and relativism, precisely those traits that might encourage dissent, which in turn could dangerously weaken society's ability to cope with external threats. "You want a crowd that you can manipulate like putty," according to Drury.

Strauss was also strongly influenced by Thomas Hobbes. Like Hobbes, he thought the fundamental aggressiveness of human nature could be restrained only through a powerful state based on nationalism. "Because mankind is intrinsically wicked, he has to be governed," he once wrote. "Such governance can only be established, however, when men are united - and they can only be united against other people."

"Strauss thinks that a political order can be stable only if it is united by an external threat," Drury wrote in her book. "Following Machiavelli, he maintains that if no external threat exists, then one has to be manufactured. Had he lived to see the collapse of the Soviet Union, he would have been deeply troubled because the collapse of the 'evil empire' poses a threat to America's inner stability.

"In Strauss' view, you have to fight all the time [to survive]," said Drury. "In that respect, it's very Spartan. Peace leads to decadence. Perpetual war, not perpetual peace, is what Straussians believe in." Such views naturally lead to an "aggressive, belligerent foreign policy", she added.

As for what a Straussian world order might look like, Drury said the philosopher often talked about Jonathan Swift's story of Gulliver and the Lilliputians. "When Lilliput was on fire, Gulliver urinated over the city, including the palace. In so doing, he saved all of Lilliput from catastrophe, but the Lilliputians were outraged and appalled by such a show of disrespect."

For Strauss, the act demonstrates both the superiority and the isolation of the leader within a society and, presumably, the leading country vis-a-vis the rest of the world.

Drury suggests it is ironic, but not inconsistent with Strauss' ideas about the necessity for elites to deceive their citizens, that the Bush administration defends its anti-terrorist campaign by resorting to idealistic rhetoric. "They really have no use for liberalism and democracy, but they're conquering the world in the name of liberalism and democracy," she said.

(Inter Press Service)

All Oppression Creates a State of War--Simone De Beauvoir

Neither coincidence nor design: it's by Evolution

Convergent evolution is the process whereby organisms not even closly related, can independently evolve into similar forms through similar traits.

Dear Vildemose: "one-man one-vote" in a Muslim country today, means an Islam influenced republic. Islam being an intolerant religion, negates any chance for true democracy, which requires personal, social and ideological freedoms.

Sorry Excuses are all we have got left ... not understanding our

... own people, our own history, and our own neighberhood.

No amount of cut-and-paste video can change that, dear Darius.

Semi-democratic?? Not by a

Semi-democratic?? Not by a long shot.

This is not a coincidence. This is be design.  

All Oppression Creates a State of War--Simone De Beauvoir

Semi-Democratic!

Semi-intelligent assessment of the ME situation.  And you are missing all those wonderful social changes by living in North America.

Is that a sorry excuse to say you didn't see it coming ?

Tunisia could benefit from bitter lessons of Iran’s clumsy '79 revolution 

SATIRE: Egypt's "Papyrus Revolution"

Or do You 'liberal Democrats' do this every 3 decades just for the pleasure of 'experimentation' ? ...

SATIRE: The Burqa Republic of Our IRANICAN Dreams ;0)

Despite clear warnings to curb your enthusiasm ... 

Niall Ferguson Blasts Barack Obama For Failed Egypt Foreign Policy 

A QUEEN's LOYALTY: Barbara Walters Shares Shahbanou Farah's concerns for President Mobarak's Family

Just Like when you said your revolution was 'highjacked' ...

Constitutionalist Khosro Fravahar Blasts Esmail Nouriala For Hypocritical Jomhurykhah Bias

RED PRINCESS: Constitutionalist Blasts BBC Persian For Left Wing Bias towards Pahlavi Rule

Constitutionalist's Rebuttal of Republican Assessment that Revolution was "Highjacked"

Well I hope you got your "revenge" sorted out this second time round ...

LIMITS TO HAMBASTEGHI: Fravahar on impossibiity of Rallying Jomhurykhahs (Secular or Not)