Video Of The Week: Solidarity
I woke up thinking about the french and I’d like to communicate my solidarity with them.
This video says it best for me
I woke up thinking about the french and I’d like to communicate my solidarity with them.
This video says it best for me
Comments (Archived):
Marchons, marchons…
Love their anthem. Great in Casablanca, and in Jean Renoir’s film, Le Grande Illusion.
soiidarity is nice .. working on creating a global culture that knows how to embrace differences is a noble work to undertakenot all that much difference between usa foreign policy values and silicon valley values .. the former is a big cause of things like paris .. would be cool if the latter would stop with the homerun ipo orientation and do something for the world
.These are not cultural differences. This is about good v evil. The evil shows its face with guns and blood. The victims have done nothing to deserve thisWe, Americans, do not have to look at ourselves. We have not done anything wrong here. Sorry.This is about having the resolve to call it what it is — Islamic terrorism — and eliminating it from the face of the earth. No different than the Nazis.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
would be cool if the latter would stop with the homerun ipo orientation and do something for the worldNot the business that they are in. Like saying that the NFL, MLB, NBA or NHL should “stop with trying to win games all the time and instead do something for the world”. I am not doing anything differently today and I suspect that the vast majority of people in this country (or business) in this country won’t either. Nice for people who have secure jobs (or write opinion columns or are talking heads) or enough income to go off and pontificate about how we “all need to act and do something” (stupid like put a flag outside your car window you remember those?)What I do think is that the media should stop making a circus out of events like this [1] and blowing it up to be essentially more than it is which just results in making it more attractive and plays exactly into what the terrorists want. (Same with school shootings).[1] But then again that is there business so…
What has happened is unreal. I was pinching myself.
Be safe in Beirut. They hit there before Paris.
Yup. Same bad people.
Scary piece about this is that it is not unimaginable.Nothing is.In business, after a horrid day or week or month, I wake up early and figure out what to do.What do you do differently today to respond to this?
Do something really joyous with family. We’ll try that.
I have a lot of friends who live in NY and Paris and saw a bunch of them last night.People are resilient. Getting past stuff is easy. Taking action that matters is the issue.
.Pray that our political leaders will take fierce action to eliminate this threat from the face of the earth before they strike again and before they come to our shores.Doing nothing is not an option.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Hey JLMI almost never agree with your politics as you know.But I do 100% agree with you that these people like the Nazis need to die.
ISIS is a symbol for extremist muslim. By continue to attack it, if we don’t exterminate the state, it will be like weed and continue. Alternatively, you let them take power and invade not with weapon but by selling them the confort of modern life until they don’t and can’t care outside their country. In Europe and in France in particular, just like for Iraq, many people think that by attacking them we are making the problem worse and that we would be better to acknowledge them, do business with them and soften them. These people are terrible at leading and managing a country, but in face of adversity will try to be heroic. Of course it’s more complicated than that, but trying to present a different view, shared by many here in Europe. In many way, we (the western countries) created this problem by destabilising the region, time over time.
To provide an example. Here is a comment which can my attention on facebook today, clearly illustrating the view on this war from the middle east:”Facebook is asking people in France if they are safe.. No one asked us in Lebanon 2 days ago if we are safe.. only some dear friends did.. no one asked about Syria, Iraq, Palestine….Well.. even in death, the poor is different than the rich, the strong, the weak.Well.. if the “strong” stops arming the destruction of the “weak”, the 3rd world will be ok.. and Facebook won’t ask people in France if they are safe.Thoughts to the victims of France.. We know your pain.”
I agree this enemy is smart. And I agree it is complex.This different view is what? Negotiate with them?That is what you are suggesting.?
If we decide to answer by this act of terrorism by a investing more into a war against ISIS we would be adding fuel to fire. There are no example of wars recently against terrorism that one have been able to win with traditional warfare. Not in Afghanistan, not in Iraq, not in Israel.On the other side of the Mediterranean see, we have to realize the death during this attack on Paris are not seen with the same angle that we do. That’s what I was trying to illustrate with my comment.I do not have the best answer. But I am convince a full out war will only make matter worse on the long term. Maybe we should accept ISIS as a new country, start create commercial link in a way that we stop giving them a reason to hate us. Then we need to give time to time, be resilient and ultimately help stabilize the middle east, by allowing people to have a life, a familly, be happy with the respect of their own culture and belief. Doing that would be mean stopping for the westnern world support all the rich wealthy middle eastern oligarch/despot: saudi arabia, the UAE, …These countries try to respect some of the western value but they are not democracy. They see ISIS as change and a threat to their system. Just like european kingdom saw the French revolution as a threat. Yes, the French revolution was founded with a lot of great idea from the XVII centuries philosophers, but it also started with terror and violence.Many of Isis supporter, see ISIS as the equivalent of the French revolution for their time, their culture and their religious ideal. Just like for the French revolution, fighting them with a broad coalition will make them stronger. And yes, the French revolution was followed by 2 failed attempt to democracy, before to get another despot (Napoleon), to finally get a stable republic. So stability can take time, but trying to fight them with warfare will only make it worse and longer.Could we imagine a different approach, acknowledging them, with acceptance of their belief, trying to give them stability not with weapon but with education, commerce and culture exchange?Sorry for the long answer, obviously the event in Paris made me think quite a bit about this.
No I thank you for your challenge.I think this will play out the opposite of what you say though.
Madness once again intrudes into our lives. Many at fault, many to blame and not many answers.
i’m lying in bed this morning all blurry eyed and half asleep and reach for my phone. then this abomination confronts me. it takes the day away.
Thank you for this nice thought and message Fred. I live in Paris and have been reading your posts since 2005, a time when I was living in the US. French entrepreneurs love you, you are always welcome in Paris.
Thanks Antoine. We have a place in Paris and are there three or four times a year. We love Paris and the french people
I can confirm, there are quite a few French entrepreneurs following your blog. Thank you for your support. It’s amazing to see how the support receive from social media is impacting us in France in days like today. #the_power_of_network
There are hundreds of millions Muslims in the world. I don’t understand how come Islamic leaders don’t condemn it.
https://twitter.com/martinv…
We need more connection, interconnection.
That’s just because CNN and Fox don’t cover it. But it appears to be covered in USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/sto… or simply this http://bit.ly/1PtdoIG
Guy, see http://www.alternet.org/med…
#Liberté, #égalité, #Fraternité #Courage
I think that FDR gave us the best template and option for dealing with terrorism. We offer them a thing called, “Unconditional Surrender”. No negotiation. No compromise.
Other template is what we did post world war ii.. so i guess give credit to Truman and Ike. We have to build a modern society in the middle east. Only way to defeat this ideology. Surprisingly doesn’t mean we have to fight constantly, but we must be a stabilizer. Fact that 99% of americans have no clue on: We have 110k troops in germany, japan, and south korea. We helped build those nations into 3 of top 10 economies, societies, and advocates for freedom in the world. The fact we have less than 10k troops and presence in iraq and afghanistan is ridiculous and troubling. We don’t need hyperbolic or inflammatory responses by politicians, but we need some who will like true leaders lay out this case, facts, and level that meaningful money must be spent on this
Unconditional surrender comes first.
I agree. Its just important that we tell a cohesive full narrative or we will mess up like has happened. i don’t think going into those countries is where we screwed up as much as we didn’t have a full mission and we didn’t complete it. Unconditional surrender is a great start tho
WE screwed up Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Syria.We made Iran a player while screwing up our relationship with Saudi Arabia and Israel.We let Russia back into the game. They haven’t been players since the Yom Kippur War.WE did this.JLM http://www.themusingsofthebigredca...
Israel has a good system going there you have to admit. Nobody crying over trampled rights or excessive force when any of those soldiers or Police kill someone who appears to be a danger. That’s an artifact of not only how they perceive the everyday threat but also the fact that everyone has skin in the game and/or has served in the armed forces. Amazing how that changes people’s perspectives on things.
.Post WWII we had an enormous number of troops in Germany. The country was divided into American, English, French, and Russian sectors.The gov’t of West German (American, English, French sectors) developed into a democracy and the Nazis were eliminated.The Russian sector developed into a satellite of the USSR. They were a POW camp. Entire blocks of East Berlin were never repaired in order to teach the Germans a lesson.It was the governing philosophy of the Americans, English, and French which allowed this transformation to start and to blossom.I served in Europe and Korea during the time period and can say with some certainty that it was not the occupying forces that was the key — it was the governing philosophy. A subtle but very important difference.We also use to run a big exercise, Reforger, which practiced the US coming to reinforce Europe. No longer held.We have today, not a single American tank in Europe. The policy of this administration. This is why Putin is so belligerent. Nobody to oppose him.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Any truth to this?
The assertion being that the weapons get in the hands of ISIS because they ISIS starts off as a mercinary fighting for the US.
.Yes, I believe we created IS by the void in Iraq and the arming of anti-Assad rebels.Our Syria policy was insane and continues to be so.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
How could so much go so wrong for so long?
.Gross incompetence leveraged upon Muslim leaning sentiment?Our President was and is uniquely positioned to fuck this up on a gargantuan basis.Bad judgement, inexperience, incompetence, and arrogance.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
So what’s the solution in your eyes?
People profiting by selling guns and weapons.
First, thank you for your service and your perspective. I agree overall and what you say makes sense. I think you just further extended (and have provided a great example) of the point I attempted to make. I agree its a subtle and important difference. The key is that we have to build actual societies there. The key to communicate is this a mission with with no time table, but if you have to guess probably a 20-40 year realistic time frame? Would you agree?Its not that we will be fighting for that long, but that we must build a society, economic system,and governoring philosophy as you mention. Very curious any insight on how long you think it might take and if you agree that a clear signal of an “indefinite fight” with no timetables.
Also allow plenty of time to unwind the fucking brainwashing that they all go through when they are young that makes them ok with dying.
.1,000 years?10,000 years?JLM http://www.themusingsofthebigredca...
I wrote it out but cut it out to be succinct, but clearly I have to say it:The Arab Muslims have just one culture, Islam. It’s all they have, and it runs everything — education, dress codes, social norms, media, diets, architecture, dating, marriages, the legal system, foreign policy, government, and religion.Islam comes in two flavors, Sunni and Shiite, and among the Arabs each can think of nothing else they’d rather do than (A) send their sons to kill the other and (B), meanwhile, back in the tents, with all the excess females, keep them all in harems and pregnant to have more young men to fight and more young women for the harems.And the Islam they have has hardly changed in 1000 years. Just flatly, it’s all they know.To have the Arab Muslims understand our values, government, military, etc., we would have to bring them forward several hundred years, and, as W showed at enormous cost in highly precious US blood and treasure — @JLM we “paid full tuition” and got “a barbed wire enema” — clearly we don’t know how to do that and should never again invest even as much as one drop of US blood or one penny of US treasure. Ain’t worth it.
John Kerry is talking about killing and eliminating DASH. Who is DASH?
Daesh. it’s Arabic.
Ok, this isn’t my area, so who is Daesh ?
Islamic State. Puritans who follow the same ultra orthodox views as the rulers of Saudi Arabia.
Daesh = = ISIS ?
the head chopping extremists
I thought we support the SAUDIS?
supporting Saudi… so long as it continues to price its oil in US dollars, unlike Iran which does not and is therefore labelled ‘rogue’.https://en.wikipedia.org/wi…the private banks that effectively own the US Federal Reserve see their profits hit when oil is not being traded in US dollars, and this pisses them off big time. sanctions are imposed, countries are bombed, terrorists strike back, et.c., et.c.
Oh, I see a the US Secretary of State in Europe speaking Arabic. Makes sense to me.
he was in Vienna, and trying to be cultured 🙂
.IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh all the same bunch of shitheads. Daesh is considered a pejorative.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Wow, with all these names The State Department makes the bitcoin community seem to a top flight Madison Avenue Advertising/marketing firm.
Whatever the fuckers are called, it would be interesting to coral them all into one place. Then we’ll see what a clean fight looks like.
.They won’t ever fight fair. They attack the defenseless because they are cowards and pussies.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
That’s why they should be corralled, like animals.
.They are confined in a fairly small area in the Middle East.We need to kill them all before they spread out.Today Paris. Tomorrow NYC.JLM http://www.themusingsofthebigredca...
Up to a point. The terrorist count will be something like 1 /10,000 in the ME (that’s why there are so many refugees) and, say, 1/ 250,000 in Europe. That’s why they need to be weeded out first.
Yeah but it is like a cancer in the sense that 40 years ago you would have thought we would be further along. And we are but let’s face it it’s still out there big time. [1] The problem (as I’ve stated) is not only identifying the cancer but not killing the cells that aren’t cancer (or something like that). Plus preventing the spread. This almost entirely new for the world unfortunately.Maybe the biggest problem is the fact that it appears to be trivial for any group like this to recruit new members from what appears to be many walks of life. So this isn’t like going into Europe and taking over a country. And even if we get ISIS what is to prevent the next miscreant from taking up where they left off? The economic impact of all of this is tremendous on us. Look at what must have happened in Paris past the actual people killed. I mean all economic activity grinds to a halt. There were weddings planned for Saturday night that are now cancelled. This is exactly what they want. They can leverage this to create such an impact just like 9/11 did here with so many things. (When I saw the towers fall on TV first thing I thought was “shit everything is going to change now and this is going to cost all of us a fortune”.)[1] And to diverge a bit what really annoys me is the “cancer industrial machine” that is going at full tilt on TV and in advertising and the media giving people all sorts of anxiety that really plays no beneficial role.
Maybe they won’t strike NYC next. I think it will be a smaller place. Reason is that will instill more fear. Would expect to see attacks also in multiple cities simultaneously that is what would make sense terror wise as well. What’s interesting is that the amount of people killed and the sophistication of the attack was so much smaller than 9/11 but they are getting what appears to be nearly as much media play. Pretty good for the “JV” team. I guess that is what the generals and advisers told him.
.Militarily they are the JV. When we play their game, they are lucky and effective.They will be in NYC next.JLM http://www.themusingsofthebigredca...
This is what I believed was or is going on – however perhaps it wasn’t managed properly or maybe that is just my mind being optimistic that someone in power is managing things well.
There are just so many things different now with society war wise [1] than there was back during WW2. Our entire view of casualties (dropping a bomb and killing civilians as only one example) to the way that everyone was so dedicated to winning in Europe that it appears (from my knowledge at least I could be wrong) that nobody thought twice about taking peacetime factories and turning them over for the war effort. Can you imagine what would happen if we tried to take Boeings zillion year plane backlog and tell them they had to make something for a war effort instead of delivering civilian jetliners? Or taking over cruise ships? Or rationing vital war raw materials? Or turning lights out on an entire city every night? Can you imagine the pampered people of today ever agreeing to those types of sacrifices? Or accepting any civilian casualties? This was the day that Trump refers to as “winning”. Or when Carson growing up in a time when blacks were still referred to as negroes didn’t whine he just worked harder. [1a] Not like the kids today who spend their time getting a weak college president to resign over essentially bullshit. [2][1] And you are much more qualified to elaborate than I am on this subject.[1a] Where single mom meant a mom like his, not a divorced lawyer making a nice income, and benefits that can afford plenty of help and gets alimony to boot.[2] What was the crime in that case? I still don’t have a clear picture of an issue major enough to cause a resignation. I am sure it was positive earth shattering though.
My Dad Spent 3 years in Europe post WW2. they treated him like a hero the whole time.
> “We have to build a modern society in the middle east.”Hopeless. Absolutely totally hopeless. Not worth a single drop of US blood or even one penny of US treasure.We just take the ISIS areas back to tents and camels, make it a US colony, and take the oil. We leave those wackos just where they want to be, 1000 years out of date, and make no attempt to civilize them.
More hopeless than imperial japan? than nazi germany? I doubt very few would have predicted how they would have come into freedom loving countries. While some differences, there are also innumberable more resources, technology, and civilization that we have vs 70 years ago. And ultimately your approach leaves a power vaccuum that will be filled. And usually by hostile terroristic, radical forces. Isolationism doesn’t work.
I’m trying to keep us from repeating the mistake W made. I’m shocked that anyone would, other than Jeb, have any doubts about just how totally hopeless W’s goal was. Hopeless. Hopeless and expensive, for which I am big time pissed off. I’ve tried to explain, and will try again here.Getting Some Insight into WYou are giving me some insight, I’ve never been able to achieve before, on just how the heck W could have even imagined that “The Iraqi people are perfectly capable of governing themselves.” and, thus, threw away, wadded up and threw away, thousands of US lives, tens of thousands of US casualties, and trillions of US dollars trying to give Iraq a secular, constitutional, parliamentary democracy.Nope: Didn’t work. Just as soon as the US relaxed, Iraq went back to its natural state — a religious war between the Sunnis and Shiites with both hating the Kurds.Saddam kept wars down using Stalinist tactics — anyone who even glanced at fighting Sunni-Shiite wars or resisting Saddam’s dictatorship got tortured, had their families tortured, or got killed — right away. Saddam told us we’d have a tough time trying to keep Iraq together. We did try, and we didn’t keep it together.Stalinist tactics worked; bringing Western Civilization didn’t. We were too ashamed to use Stalinist tactics; so we, and, really, also the Iraqis, lost. With hideous irony, our time in Iraq resulted in the deaths of many more Iraqis per month than Saddam’s time.Rise of ISISOr, the story goes, as soon as we left, the Shiites, with the help of Shiite Iran, dumped on the Sunnis. Then the Sunnis, with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and a lot of former Saddam officers, started ISIS. Part of how they started was to work with some Sunnis in Syria fighting Alawite (Shiite spin-off) Assad helped by Shiite Iran. In part ISIS got some help from Sunni Saudi Arabia.This guy, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is a total wacko, senior, world-class grade, an insult to all other total wackos.So, it’s the 1000 year old Sunni-Shiite war again and, also, the 1000 year war between Islam and everyone else, i.e., the hated infidels, e.g., you and me.CultureNow why? Why the heck? Why take a secular, constitutional, parliamentary democracy, that had already had peaceful, free elections, and rush to wad it up, throw it away, and return to an old civil war, basically long cooled off by Saddam in his years?And why, why the heck not do like Japan and Germany?One word: Culture.German CultureStart with Germany: For Germany, Hitler was an anomaly. Why? In 1933 Germany had for at least 200 years been a good candidate for the most advanced culture on the planet in music, architecture, literature, education, mathematics, physical science, medical science, industry, philosophy, democracy, etc.Music — Bach, Haydn, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, von Weber, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, …. Organ construction. In classical music, there’s Germany and far back in second place, Italy and then France, Russia, Poland, England, and all the rest.Architecture — Würzburg Residence in Munich, started in 1720 and completed in 1744. The stairway is a good candidate for the crown jewel of all stairways — murals by Tiepolo. For more, read or watch the videos of K. Clark, Civilization, some art history once on PBS. I’m no expert, but for a start just Google German baroque churches and right away get some amazing pictures includinghttps://twelvefield.files.w…For German progress in literature, education, mathematics, physical science, medical science, industry, philosophy, democracy, etc., I’ll just say that they were commonly quite comparable to the best in German music and architecture.In my startup? Thank you John von Neumann! I wouldn’t have thought of that alone! He was educated in Germany.By 1933, Europe, including Germany, had long since set aside the bloody Catholic-Protestant wars.So, then, why did Germany get the monster Hitler? The treaty of Versailles and, then, the Great Depression. Why was Hitler such a monster? There’s no shortage of people as wacko as Hitler; the challenge is not to get hurt by them. Why did Germany let Hitler run off on his military nonsense — in Spain, Austria, Poland, North Africa, Italy, France, Eastern Europe, Russia? By 1933, Germany — due to the Great Depression, the consequences of Versailles, and a serious flaw in German culture — was desperate and too eager to follow a dictator and military leader. That last point is commonly blamed on Prussian militarism blamed on a result of the times Germany was used as a battle ground by others with, e.g., German peasants getting through the winter by digging dead soldiers out of the snows.So, when Hitler was defeated, Germany returned to good sense and not to another Hitler.I was definitely not a history major. But I like music, mathematics, physical science, and did try to understand a little about Germany from 1929 through 1945.Lesson I learned for the US: Keep firmly in mind our Founding Fathers, Constitution, three branches of government, and checks and balances.Japanese CultureJapan? To me Japan is inscrutable. But Japan is not and, well before 1940, no joke, not a joke at all. They had built maybe he world’s biggest and best navy, e.g., with aircraft carriers, not easy to do. For a while, their best fighter plane was close to competitive with the best of England and Germany — it took the US to do better, and that took a while. Their research on torpedoes was world-class. A guy in Japan saw right away, about as fast as Szilard, Wigner, Einstein, Fermi, Oppenheimer, Heisenberg, etc. did, how to build a nuclear fission bomb but concluded that the separation would take a major fraction of all the electric power in Japan — IIRC R. Rhodes on the bomb.So, after Japan lost the war, they also returned to good sense.Arab CultureThe 1945+ US occupations can’t claim to have brought a lot of missing culture to Germany and Japan.But for the Arab Muslims, as I tried to explain, the culture they have, their only culture, is Islam, either Sunni or Shiite. As I explained, in the Arab states, if want to call them that, Islam is 1000 years out of date but still runs everything. Culturally at best they are sheep herders; until the oil, they cooked their food with camel dung. Culturally they are nearly as backward as remote tribes in Africa, Brazil, Borneo; they are about the same as the herders of Afghanistan.The Sunnis and Shiites have been fighting their non-stop war for 1000 years.Islam keeps out nearly everything less than 1000 years old; e.g., Islam runs all of the Arab education.Here’s the biggie, central point: The US can defeat the Arabs in battle, but then they will just return to their old culture — Islam and their Sunni-Shiite war with oil revenue added to sheep herding.I’m very sorry, but that’s just the way it is, and we are awash in overwhelmingly strong evidence, where we “paid full tuition,” on that reality. I will try to explain more here.E.g., W and Gulf War II gave the Iraqis a secular, constitutional, parliamentary democracy, and, as soon as the US left, Iraq went right back, do not pass GO, do not collect $100, to their culture of Islam and their Sunni-Shiite war.Again, Islam and their 1000 year old Sunni-Shiite war is all they know, and Islam keeps out everything else.How Bad Is It?If the US were like the Arabs want, then the US would elect some far right wing, fundamentalist, evangelical, speaking in tongues, totally wacko, spaced-out version of maybe a Southern Baptist, Seventh Day Adventist, or Scientologist, who would burn the Constitution, all research libraries, and especially Darwin, abolish Congress, the Supreme Court, colleges and universities, the NSF, NIH, CDC, the media, etc., turn all the schools into just religious studies, for boys only and only to age 10 or so, give all political power to religious wackos, take the US military to imported AK-47s and Toyotas, start civil wars with all the other Christians and with the Catholics and Jews, run a sectarian dictatorship, and rush back to sheep herding and a total population of only a few million.What to DoWhat should the US, England, France, Germany, maybe with Russia, do about the Arabs? For each Arab country, if want to call it that, make them keep their nonsense totally within their own country. And when an Arab country fails to do that, then use Western power, mostly air power, to ensure that absolutely, totally they just cannot, i.e., are actually unable in any sense, to do anything outside their own country. So, kill off their leadership and then destroy their oil infrastructure, buildings, vehicles, …, back to tents and camels and then destroy those two — somewhere in there they will stay within their borders, destroying education, chopping off heads, making sex slaves out of 8 year old girls, etc. but, again, within their own borders.For ISIS, part of the solution is for the US just to turn the place into a US colony, keep the Arabs in tribes in tents with camels, and take the oil.In Gulf Wars I and II, we tried to show them the way forward. W gave them a great start. They were really slow learners with really poor memories and threw away W’s expensive effort.Now, on the third time, no more nice guy.We can clean out the ISIS area, take over, and turn it into a peaceful place in all of about six weeks. And just the ISIS area, guys, and do NOT try to bring civilization to Syria.The Arab Muslims in the ISIS area want to live like 1000 years ago, and we will help them, let them, force them to do just that. For people who like gun laws, sure, have some totally severe gun laws for the tribes in the US colony.US colony? The ISIS Arab Muslims have left us no choice. We bring peace; we don’t bring Western culture; they get tents and camels; we get the oil and no more ISIS threats.Real ObstaclesNo matter what we do or whatever happens, they will stick with Islam and let it continue to run everything. They will always be vulnerable to another world-class, grand champion wacko Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.Again, once again, over again, the only culture they have is Islam; it’s all they know; it runs everything; and it keeps out everything else. And in total everything they have is Islam, hot sun, desert, sheep herding, camels, and oil.We can bring them the Internet, but their Mullahs will shut it down because it shows forbidden images and has ideas from infidels (the people Islam wants dead).We can bring them democracy, but their Mullahs will go for a secular dictatorship.We can give them schools, but ASAP their Mullahs will kick out the girls and cut the rest back to just religious studies to about age 10.We can try to explain to them the advantages of peace, but as soon as they have even a rock or a stick, the Sunnis/Shiites will use it to attack the Shiites/Sunnis.If we get them to stop their Sunni-Shiite wars, then, because all they know to do with their young men is to fight and die in their main, favorite activity, Sunni-Shiite wars, soon they will have a great excess of unemployed males ready to cause trouble.Fundamentals of CultureIt’s fundamental: Children need parents. As in the now classic J. Dewey, Democracy and Education, what education, and in particular parents, do is to pass their culture down to their children. So, culture gets reproduced from generation to generation and is very difficult to change.Change in Saudi ArabiaFor an example of the difficulty of changing culture, it appears that enough Saudis went to US universities to start to pick up some Western culture. So, back in the desert, they have tried to bring the culture of Sunni Islam of 1000 years ago forward.But the effort is a difficult bootstrap operation. So, first, have to keep the country running with what it has — a royal family, a kingdom, Islam, and oil.Then slowly, with the Mullahs objecting every step of the way, the number of unemployed youth growing, oil prices falling, guest workers all around keeping the place going, various wars, the gigantic mistake of UBL and 9/11, the war with Saddam, the war with Yemen, trying to help the Sunnis in Iraq and Syria dumped on by the Shiites but ending up with the horror of ISIS, the threat of Shiite Iran, try to make progress.HopelessDid I mention hopeless?For the US, we need to defend ourselves.This post is a longer version. Shorter versions didn’t work.Sorry, Matt, your ideas are too close to the massive disaster of W, Cheney, Rummy, Wolfie, Bremer, and I very much want to push back against any more such massive disasters. This is about the best I can do.Again, the total nutshell view: For culture, all the Arab Muslims have is Islam and fighting their Sunni-Shiite wars, and there’s no real hope of changing them or even helping them for, @JLM, 1000, 10,000 years.Threats to UsThe Islam of the Arab Muslims regards you and me as hated infidels, and they have plenty of young men with nothing better to do than make suicide attacks on you and me. They have Ali Fatwa Abu Jihad bin Boom Boom ready to mix fertilizer and fuel oil in the back of a Toyota and kill themselves and any infidels.They did that in the Iran-Iraq war, in Gulf War I, 9/11, Gulf War II, the current ISIS-Shiite wars in Iraq and Syria, and against the Kurds, the current wars in Yemen and Libya, the current wars in Chechnya, and now in Paris. See a pattern here?ISIS could live in a land of milk and honey pursuing art, science, family, and leisure, but, instead, with their culture, just want to kill infidels.And ISIS is coming for you, too, Matt.One would think that Schwarzkopf taught them a lesson, but they have some severe and soon to be fatal learning and memory problems. We’re talking history’s unique, grand, region-wide Darwin award.ISIS has said that they want to nuke the US. ‘Nuff for me — fix them so that they just cannot hurt us. We might leave a few alive.Of course, if some Sunnis with even half a brain want to stomp on the desert scorpion monster ISIS, then we might back off a little. Otherwise for the ISIS areas, it will be back to tents and camels, if we leave those two, with us taking the oil.Trump has claimed that he wants the US military so strong that “no one will mess with us”. For ISIS, Trump is wrong: Might as well hold up a bottle of bug spray to keep the cockroaches out of the kitchen. The cockroaches do not have enough intelligence, memory, and learning ability for the view of the bottle to work. Instead, have to clean up the kitchen to cut off their food and otherwise just kill them.ISIS is much more dangerous than cockroaches but not much better at some aspects of memory and learning.My Goal HereI’m trying to keep us from repeating the mistake W made. I’m shocked that anyone would, other than Jeb, have any doubts about just how totally hopeless W’s goal was. Hopeless. Hopeless, foolish, brain-dead, delusional, expensive, for which I am big time pissed off. I’ve tried to explain here.Writing this took time away from my startup.
Very long, thorough response. With some good points in there. I don’t think they preclude a real society being developed in the middle east because basically we will need that at some point, but I do grant that culture is important. I think japanese culture would less support your point about how it couldn’t be transferred over. Still, interesting response. I have no clue what you meant here? “CultureNow why? Why the heck? Why take a secular, constitutional, parliamentary democracy, that had already had peaceful, free elections, and rush to wad it up, throw it away, and return to an old civil war, basically long cooled off by Saddam in his years?” Which nation is this? Because Iraq certainly didn’t have free elections under saddam… but I couldn’t make out who you were alluding to?
> ” I think japanese culture would less support your point about how it couldn’t be transferred over.”From what little I understand about Japan, they are serious and disciplined in the extreme. We told them no more military Japan trying to colonize Manchuria, the Philippines, Korea, all of SE Asia all the way west to India, etc., and, with their extreme seriousness and discipline, they just got it right away.> Which nation is this?Iraq: W got them a secular, constitutional, parliamentary democracy with at least one free election. Then they should have been on their way to a good country — apparently W thought so. But, nope: As soon as the US quit running the place, right away, presto, bingo, slam bam, they put a Shiite partisan as the head of government, and he started beating up on the Sunnis. And it’s still the case: The Baghdad government is run by Shiites who want to beat up on the Sunnis. So, Iraq had a democracy with at least one free election, and ASAP they blew it, threw it away.Then the angry Sunnis, with a lot of former Saddam army officers, and their wacko leader, started ISIS. Then, have a Sunni democracy? Heck no: Instead they just did what they knew — have a Sunni sectarian dictatorship 1000 years out of date — it was all they knew. Anyone not a Sunni Jihader was an infidel to be killed or made a sex slave. And, then, start attacking all the other infidels. Try to join up with Syria, Libya, and Chechnya, etc.Your average ISIS citizen understands separation of church and state less than I understand the Russian language, and there I don’t even understand the alphabet.Europe learned the lesson of separation of church and state: They paid “full tuition” over how many hundred years of the rivers of Europe running red with blood? Maybe the Arabs are learning this lesson now — maybe in another 1000 years they will get it.Even in the US now, lots of religious groups are all for separation of church and state except just for their group.Like, really worst, than taking an AA guy, with the DTs, get him dried out in rehab, let him out, and the first thing he does is go back on the sauce. He’s weak on both memory and learning. Net, the sauce is all he knows.I’m tired of hoping that ISIS will see the light and get peaceful. Instead it’s time to make sure they are peaceful.Today France dropped 20 bombs. What a laugh. They might as well have dropped 20 croissants. The ISIS Jihaders will just laugh. France got slapped hard, but apparently they still have yet to get it. To be political, when it was announced that Obama had sent 50 US soldiers, right away (bright guy) Trump said “Either do it or don’t.” He was right. What’s the 50 and the 20? Headlines that make ISIS laugh?I say again, ISIS has announced that they want to nuke the US. If they can buy a nuke on the black market and get it to a US port, then they will. So, maybe the US INTEL tracks, minute by minute, each ocean going vessel in the world and, then, way off shore, has the USCG inspect anything at all in doubt. Maybe. And maybe that’s not good enough. A government that can’t stop cocaine and heroin imports and wants to admit, what was it, 200,000 Arabs — why am I concerned? I am concerned. I don’t want to be concerned and, instead, want ISIS destroyed.
> “best template”Nope. Not “best” by a long shot.This time, unconditional surrender is not good enough. Instead, got to kill off all the ISIS leadership, take the place back to tents and camels, make it a US colony, and take the oil.And we focus, just on ISIS.In eight weeks, General Schwarzkopf got unconditional surrender when Saddam’s army was the fourth largest in the world with seven million men. This time, let’s get it done in six weeks with zero US deaths or casualties from enemy action.
I have a very good friend who is Arabic and consults with world governments on terrorism. He has met Al Queda leaders, and negotiated. The first thing he would do is not label it jihad because it makes it easy for them to recruit. First thing he would do is make it really hard to recruit. Next thing he would do is start to figure out ways to enable secular and centrist Muslims to start to make it “wrong” to be a radical Islamist. He would also take the fight directly to ISIS, big time. For the hard core, there is only two or three ways: killing, imprison for life and let them rot, or hope they see the light and change their ways.
Good to hear the thoughts of an informed Arab Muslim.But, I don’t buy it.Arab “secular and centrist Muslims”? From all I can see, nearly the empty set. Saddam kept the place together using Stalinist techniques and told us we’d have a heck of a time keeping the place together.First, see my summary of the Arab Muslims I wrote out here for Matt Kruza inhttp://avc.com/2015/11/vide…I wrote out a lot more for you but to be succinct cut out nearly all of it.Considering what I wrote out for Krusa, considering what General Schwarzkopf did in eight weeks against Saddam’s army, the fourth largest in the world, with seven million men under arms, here’s what I’d have the US and/or France do to ISIS:We don’t have to use F-22s or B-2s — the A-10 is just about the right tool, and what it did in Gulf War I on the road from Kuwait City back to Iraq is a good example. Or, heck, just use drones. We do have some advantages — surveillance satellites, GPS, fantastic radar and infrared, stealth, aircraft carriers, and more, against some people who couldn’t understand the chemistry of matches and, except for the oil, would still be cooking their food with camel dung.In simple terms, start with the leaders, then level the oil infrastructure, the larger buildings, any vehicles, and then anything except tents and camels, and then those two. Somewhere in there they will quiet down. And we want to do a really good job, e.g., so that we no longer need the TSA or have anymore headlines from that oily toilet.ISIS will continue to attack France, the US, etc. until they are so weak they just can’t do any such things. If we are lucky, then we may be still be safe leaving a few still alive.IIRC, when Schwarzkopf was in charge, in those eight weeks, the US had more casualties from baseball and recreation than from enemy action. So, this time, we should shoot for six weeks and zero US casualties from enemy action.A newsie asked Schwarzkopf what happened to the hundreds of thousands Iraqi soldiers in the desert just north of Saudi Arabia? Schwarzkopf said “They are still there”. That’s some of what has to be done.Then colonize the place; the Arabs get tents and camels, and we get the oil.Build them schools, hospitals, and a democracy? No way. Not a chance. As I wrote out for Kruza, they have 1000 year old Islam and next to nothing else. There’s no reasonable way to bring them forward several hundred years.ISIS is threatening the US with nukes. ‘Nuff for me. Tents, camels, and no oil.Third time, no more nice guy. hope they see the light and change their ways No hope. No way is hope good enough. Can’t expect for them to see any “light” or “change” any ways. They are back 1000 years, and just leave them there.Hope that they won’t attack again? Nope. Make sure they can’t attack again.Call it gardening: We don’t just mow the tops off that noxious weed. Instead we pull it out by its roots so that it won’t grow anymore and also spray the area so that no more weeds will take root.We have a right to defend ourselves and no obligation to civilize hopelessly wacko Arab Muslims. So, we should defend ourselves against the wacko Arab Muslims. And take the oil.We can win this war with La Marseillaise, the battle section from Ein Heldenleben, The Ride of the Valkyries, The 1812 Overture, Finlandia, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, the Marine Hymn, The Star Spangled Banner, or just Pomp and Circumstance, but no music is any substitute for winning the GD war by killing the other poor SOBs.This time it’s time to get it done.
I don’t know the answer. I agree with him it’s important to make it hard to recruit. But, I agree with you that an A-10 works really well too. Seen em fly and had friends that piloted them. Devastating and well designed for their purpose.
Admit Arab Muslims into the US? Gee, what might go wrong with that?
Voltaire: “Those Who Can Make You BelieveAbsurdities, Can Make You Commit Atrocities”Sounds like time for open season on Arab Mullahs.
Bravo to Facebook Safety Check and Twitter #porteouverte.I commented about this during previous AVC threads on gun control: social media can be such a powerful tool for preserving a primary human right — our lives and our safety.This is when the real-time social connectivity of systems and humanity really counts.
From Greek: πολιτικός politikos, definition “of, for, or relating to citizens”Sometimes our representatives forget that important factNothing finer than when people stand up to be heardFirst respect and sympathy where it is needed most today -Then lets us try to remember allegiance – how close civilisations can be despite (or perhaps because of) our differences if we listen to the vox pop
.Article 5 of the Atlantic Charter (NATO) requires all signatories to join with any country attacked in Europe in its defense. That was the reason for its creation.French leader Francois Hollande has stated that the attack in Paris is an act or war and has promised a “merciless” counter blow.ISIS is a Caliphate — an Islamic nation claiming sovereignty over a crescent of land from Syria to Iran.France is at war with ISIS and has the authority to invoke Article 5.It will not because the US will not allow it to do so. The US leadership, Pres Obama/SoSs Kerry & Clinton, will not allow it much as they failed to participate in the aftermath of the last terrorist act in Paris (Charlie Hebdo).ISIS is not the “JV” and is exporting their Islamic terror to Europe. They will shortly be doing the same in the US. The FBI has identified more than 1,000 “Islamic terrorist” loci.Americans were killed in Paris.Does the world have the will to wipe ISIS off the Earth?Not under this American President.Sorry. It is really that simple.If you ignore the wolves, then sooner or later the wolves come to your home for you. They are here. Now. They are coming back again and again until they are wiped off the face of the Earth.Savagery requires savagery. It requires us to unleash our powerful military with an objective of wiping them off the face of the earth. You cannot negotiate with cancer or terrorism.Cower with the horror of what is required to deal with this but don’t fail to know — if we do nothing, this will happen again and again. ISIS is encouraged and energized by this while we are horrified.Do we have the cojones to deal with this? I think not. I pray to be proven wrong.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Exactly. And as with cancer, innocent cells will also unfortunately suffer damage as well. No way around it. We have to get off this expectation that we can make no mistakes and never kill an innocent. Best effort but with a great deal of slack. Unfortunately we are also heading in the wrong direction with police as well. As a result to wanting to have 9 nines of accuracy the total effectiveness is greatly reduced and we will end up with more crime.
It’s more complicated economic problem than just pounding them. There are so many strains of this mess going back to 632AD that it needs a more nuanced response. Going to full out war witth these guys is just what they want. So how do we kick the shit out them while aso ignoring them?
.Kill them all. Let God sort them out.JLM http://www.themusingsofthebigredca...
ISIS emerged after we went to war to destroy Al Qaeda. Maybe it’s time to consider a different approach.Instead of dropping bombs on Muslim countries while we welcome millions of Muslim immigrants into the West, how about a separation? Muslims stay in Muslim countries, and Westerners stay in theirs.Muslim refugees from Syria can be accommodated in wealthy Arab states instead of in Europe or the the US. Qatar is spending $200 billion to host a World Cup. Let them host Arab refugees instead with that money.ISIS doesn’t have ICBMs. They can’t hurt us from Syria or Iraq. They can only hurt us if we let them in.Edit: Steve Sailer just tweeted a link to this post of his written 9 years ago, which makes a similar argument in more detail: http://www.vdare.com/articl…
.Safe zone in Syria.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Who would keep that safe zone safe?
.Those who benefit and the UN?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Reads like a combination of a coat of Red,White and Blue American patriotism that is covering the thoughts of the Obstructionist, Republican, Koch Brother’s financed talking points and Fox News intolerant ilk. (View of a true Independent).(“That’s right.” “It’s right.” “He’s right”.” “She’s Right.”Those words are echoed every day by millions of people.Once we decide we are right, an abundance of energy goesinto defending our rightness.However, if we look at the situation objectively, (Will rarely happen, our interjection) we will quickly become aware that we are never right.(Bob Proctor- The ABC’s of Success)United States of America’s elected second term Democratic President’s Obama’s response.https://youtu.be/B8Kx8652EFoHe needs to check first with Obstructionist on the military strategy and response.During former US President George W. Bush administration if anyone wouldquestion any military decision or response opposing W. Bush they would beconsidered anti-patriotic. How times have changed.
.Nonsense that comforts the French dead and wounded, I am sure.JLM http://www.themusingsofthebigredca...
Practically every verse in the Koran begins with “In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate.”That’s right, “compassionate.” So why is the Muslim community continually silent when these heinous acts occur? Words are just words unless they are embraced. Where’s the solidarity (and the compassion) among Muslims who find these vile, cowardly acts unacceptable.The world is waiting.
Stop waiting and start looking http://www.usatoday.com/sto… or simply this http://bit.ly/1PtdoIG
Nice to see, and thanks for sharing, but more needs to be done. A lot more preemptively.
Agree.
Of interest:http://www.dailydot.com/pol…As Paris reels from terror attacks that claimed at least 128 lives, fierce blame for the attack is being directed toward American whistleblower Edward Snowden and the spread of strong encryption catalyzed by his actions. ….In response to the Charlie Hebdo attacks that hit Paris in January of 2015, France adopted one of the most aggressive surveillance laws in the Western world. That was not enough to stop these attacks.Well thank god for the above paragraph because you know that proves conclusively that allowing the government to do surveillance to protect us (and to also go after paranoid hippies/hipsters and their drugs) is of no value at all. Glad that we know that now!
I couldn’t believe what was happening while following the news yesterday afternoon. My whole office stopped what they were doing to get more information on the issue and to check on their friends in France through Facebook. As a human being, I wish I knew what’s the best thing to do at the moment other than make sure my friends in France and to offer my support, but I feel trapped because there’s no direct and short-term impact I can have on this sort of situation. It would be amazing to know what else can we do in order to support the affected in Paris, and in other parts of the world like Beirut.
Who is ISIS?https://youtu.be/I9PFGnSMtSs
I’m getting an error that this video has been removed by the user. Has the video been taken down?
I found this video through MediaREDF @JasonHirschhorn. It’s called, The Greatest Speech Ever Made, and it’s from the Charlie Chaplin movie, The Great Dictator. I’ve never seen it before this weekend but I think it’s a must watch.After watching what happened in Paris, I’m trying to think this way.https://t.co/kdgzbaDjUk
USA TODAY OPINIONS Nov 15, 2015 (Monday) (AGREE IN GENERAL WITH BOTH)The nature of this war: Our viewParis attacks highlight conflict between modernity, barbarity.USATODAY.com: http://usat.ly/1NTeaNw———————————‘No one will be unaffected’: Other viewsWhat others are saying about the Paris attacks.USATODAY.com: http://usat.ly/1j2Cks5