By William Markiewicz
(As other short items may follow, I've decided to group them together.)
World of Malalas (10/12)
There is a proverb in some Muslim country that I quote from memory: For women, in the kitchen -- action, in the cemetery -- rest. If this doesn't sound like brutal slavery, then what does?
These women pay for being the "weaker sex." They’ll have to wait for some hypothetical democracy to arrive. Lesia Ukrainka, whom I like to quote, wrote something like: "who awaits freedom from the hands of others, will fall into worse slavery." Self-defence is the only defence which may work. Had the diaspora Jews known it before WW2, there wouldn't have been a Holocaust, at least not to such an extent.
The Old Story (10/02)
In the past the Western powers sooner or later left their conquests in Africa and Asia. Only weaker or semi-virgin territories became populated by conquerors. Nato still clings to Afghanistan, sacrificing its soldiers who are exposed to falsely uniformed suiciders. It can last forever and the only way to save the defenceless would be to break contacts between the foreign and native soldiers. Could the Afghans win alone? Of course not. Nobody can win against countless anonymous suiciders. Karzai will have to go into exile and be eternally haunted by the extremists, like Hannibal by the Romans, Trotsky by the Stalinists... Afghanistan for an indeterminate time will remain a fortress for extremists and a prison for women and minorities.
Jihad -- Fortress of extremism (9/18)
If, in certain Islamic countries, the majority of the population happens to be against the extremists they must help themselves. Jihadists have their "nukes of the poor" -- suicide bombers -- sufficient to ensure their superiority. The problem remains local. The Western military incursions into Islamic countries represent failure. The West must think about its own security and possesses the means to do it.
“Allies” (9/16)
The U.S. doesn’t need allies. Allies – for what? Power is more important than alliances. Power still has its traps to be avoided: arrogance, imperialism.... Europe yes, it needs allies, mostly among themselves. North America could unite into the United States – why not Europe into united Europe? Of course differences between particular countries have to be honored. Formulas applied till now have been shown to be inefficient – austerity can't resolve everything. Europe needs a Common Market with a place for all Europeans.
The Arab world needs its own union. All the rest of the planet needs unions more than archaic competitions. Israel needs mostly union with the Jewish communities throughout the world, but what it needs most is peace. Inspired Rabin knew it, and had he not fallen victim to absurd abject murder, Israel today would be a prosperous neighbour among friends.
Fighting Extremists -- Not “Hunts” but “Wars” (9/14)
Not “fringes” but popular movements. The pogroms in old Europe were popular movements, so were Fascism, Nazism, Communism, and even Democracy. Don’t diminish nor exaggerate the dangers; the differences between reality and paranoia become clear sooner or later. You don’t fight epidemics by fighting isolated cases. First of all, nations, not only intelligence agencies, should be united. You want democracy? Then be a democrat and not a smart aleck – don’t try to rule by divide and conquer. How to proceed? I am neither tactician nor politician. I am a blogger who tries to add his grain of salt.
No More Time for Niceties in Act of War (9/12)
I don’t know the details of the story. I speak not about this particular case but about principles. Nobody, for instance, from the safety of American territory, should attack others, harming American interests abroad and putting American representatives in danger. The person responsible for this should be judged with all the severity of American law. For America, it’s no time for apologies when American representatives are killed. This should be considered an act of war and nobody, nowhere, should be sent officially abroad without taking everything into consideration to assure their safety. It is not only an American issue but an international relationship issue.
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William Markiewicz