"If I ruled the World" (Part 3) or; "Death to America."
Back in “If I ruled the World,” (Part 2) we looked at some of the factors that contribute to the unrest in the Middle East. Now in Part 3 I think we should look at the effects of this set of circumstances.
I believe in Karma and Serendipitous occurrences so it is no wonder that on the day I start to examine these factors Haroon Siddiqui prints a feature article in the Toronto Star about the exact same thing.
Makes my job (research) all the easier. Haroon almost handed me this article on a platter. Thank you Haroon!
Anyway, he gave me a lot of information on what I suspected were some of the major contributing factors in the Middle East situation. Even some stuff I never would have found on my own since he is an expert on the dynamics of this whole area.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not the Americans who are the main victims of Muslim extremists, but rather the Muslims themselves. (Just as in the States, it is not the whites who are besieged by the blacks but rather the blacks themselves.)
While some 3000 Americans have been killed by Middle East Extremists, (All of them from 9/11) at least 50,000 and maybe as many as 100,000 Iraqis have been killed between the Americans and their own Sectarian violence.
In addition, the Bali bombing victims were mainly Muslim as were most of the other terrorist acts during the last five years with the exception of the bombings in Spain and London.
These acts must not be attributed solely to Religion since they are more ideological, social, and economic than anything else. As I say in my book “The Plain Truth About God” (what the church doesn’t want you to know!) “The problems in the Middle East are not only religious, insofar as the clergy and the Politicians are all to glad to foster discontent to further their own ends. It is cultural and political. It is what might be described as a: “Political agenda seeking justification in religion!”
The big question now is what brought about these socio-economic conditions in the first place and how has that affected society?
Before we go further, (Dear Reader, I still need some of your input on this) let us look at some of the effects they have had on the average citizen in the Middle East.
The standard of living in the Muslim Nations is horrendous compared to the oil wealth that is generated by some of these Countries. There are 56 members of the Islamic Conference, who represent a quarter of the world’s population.
BUT, they only produce 5% of the world economy and most of that is oil - which is a non-renewable resource. Even in the oil rich countries the disparity between those who rule and those being run - no sorry, ruled over is almost beyhond belief.
As an example, (Thank you Haroon.) a quarter of Pakistan’s budget and most of the two (2) billion dollars a year the U.S. gives to Egypt for peace with the Israelis goes towards the military.
Throughout the Islamic world, the most undemocratic and economically backward States are those that happened to be the closest allies of the U.S.
Then they wonder why everyone keeps yelling “Death to America!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T89y01dZc1c&search=jazeera
The Arab nations, with a population equal to that of the United States, (280 million) have a total GDP less than that of Spain. (Believe me, Spains economy is not that great!) Even more importantly, the rate of literacy amongst the Arab population as a whole is between 40-45% and of that, well over three quarters of the women can neither read nor write!
The most educated Arabs live in either Europe or the U.S. and they have not come home to help jump start their native lands economies, as have the diasporas in India and China.
Because of this crushing economic burden and the illiteracy of the unwashed masses, Fundamentalism has been on the rise. Where the Governments cannot guarantee certain social services the Islamists step in and provide relief.
This is the case in Egypt where much of the emergency health care and education is provided by the Muslim Brotherhood. In the Occupied Territories it is by Hamas and Hezbollah and in Pakistan by groups that are far less political but no less Islamic.
On top of all this, we have an unbelievable amount of corruption and nepotism that would cripple even a robust society. (As has been proven in Central and South America.)
To quote Haroon once more:
“Feeling abandoned, the Muslim masses find comfort in religion.” “The Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation was a secular struggle before it became Islamic.”
And:
“The same was true of the Lebanese resistance to the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon, and the Afghan and Chechen resistance to Russian repression.
The result of all of this is that Muslims have developed a “siege mentality” toward anything that disturbs their comfort zone. (Religion)
From “The plain Truth about God-101” Islam now enjoys the same sort of power over the masses as Christianity displayed a thousand years ago. Why should the power structure of Islam give up any of their benefits?
It does not matter whether it is Al-Qaida, the Taliban, the clergy running Iran or the militants in Egypt and half a dozen other countries. They all want to turn their little piece of Eden into an Islamic state. Even the despots use religion for their own nefarious ends.
In other words, a state that is run according to their own ideals, beliefs and benefit; and to hell with everyone else! (Literally)
This double whammy of ignorance and religious extremism combined with the Israeli/Palestinian question is what we will look at in Part 4 of “If I ruled the World!”
Your Humble scribe;
Allan W Janssen
Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 (what the church doesn't want you to know!) at; www.God-101.com
And the petition to have people mind their own business instead of yours at; http://www.petitiononline.com/moses/petition.html
I believe in Karma and Serendipitous occurrences so it is no wonder that on the day I start to examine these factors Haroon Siddiqui prints a feature article in the Toronto Star about the exact same thing.
Makes my job (research) all the easier. Haroon almost handed me this article on a platter. Thank you Haroon!
Anyway, he gave me a lot of information on what I suspected were some of the major contributing factors in the Middle East situation. Even some stuff I never would have found on my own since he is an expert on the dynamics of this whole area.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not the Americans who are the main victims of Muslim extremists, but rather the Muslims themselves. (Just as in the States, it is not the whites who are besieged by the blacks but rather the blacks themselves.)
While some 3000 Americans have been killed by Middle East Extremists, (All of them from 9/11) at least 50,000 and maybe as many as 100,000 Iraqis have been killed between the Americans and their own Sectarian violence.
In addition, the Bali bombing victims were mainly Muslim as were most of the other terrorist acts during the last five years with the exception of the bombings in Spain and London.
These acts must not be attributed solely to Religion since they are more ideological, social, and economic than anything else. As I say in my book “The Plain Truth About God” (what the church doesn’t want you to know!) “The problems in the Middle East are not only religious, insofar as the clergy and the Politicians are all to glad to foster discontent to further their own ends. It is cultural and political. It is what might be described as a: “Political agenda seeking justification in religion!”
The big question now is what brought about these socio-economic conditions in the first place and how has that affected society?
Before we go further, (Dear Reader, I still need some of your input on this) let us look at some of the effects they have had on the average citizen in the Middle East.
The standard of living in the Muslim Nations is horrendous compared to the oil wealth that is generated by some of these Countries. There are 56 members of the Islamic Conference, who represent a quarter of the world’s population.
BUT, they only produce 5% of the world economy and most of that is oil - which is a non-renewable resource. Even in the oil rich countries the disparity between those who rule and those being run - no sorry, ruled over is almost beyhond belief.
As an example, (Thank you Haroon.) a quarter of Pakistan’s budget and most of the two (2) billion dollars a year the U.S. gives to Egypt for peace with the Israelis goes towards the military.
Throughout the Islamic world, the most undemocratic and economically backward States are those that happened to be the closest allies of the U.S.
Then they wonder why everyone keeps yelling “Death to America!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T89y01dZc1c&search=jazeera
The Arab nations, with a population equal to that of the United States, (280 million) have a total GDP less than that of Spain. (Believe me, Spains economy is not that great!) Even more importantly, the rate of literacy amongst the Arab population as a whole is between 40-45% and of that, well over three quarters of the women can neither read nor write!
The most educated Arabs live in either Europe or the U.S. and they have not come home to help jump start their native lands economies, as have the diasporas in India and China.
Because of this crushing economic burden and the illiteracy of the unwashed masses, Fundamentalism has been on the rise. Where the Governments cannot guarantee certain social services the Islamists step in and provide relief.
This is the case in Egypt where much of the emergency health care and education is provided by the Muslim Brotherhood. In the Occupied Territories it is by Hamas and Hezbollah and in Pakistan by groups that are far less political but no less Islamic.
On top of all this, we have an unbelievable amount of corruption and nepotism that would cripple even a robust society. (As has been proven in Central and South America.)
To quote Haroon once more:
“Feeling abandoned, the Muslim masses find comfort in religion.” “The Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation was a secular struggle before it became Islamic.”
And:
“The same was true of the Lebanese resistance to the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon, and the Afghan and Chechen resistance to Russian repression.
The result of all of this is that Muslims have developed a “siege mentality” toward anything that disturbs their comfort zone. (Religion)
From “The plain Truth about God-101” Islam now enjoys the same sort of power over the masses as Christianity displayed a thousand years ago. Why should the power structure of Islam give up any of their benefits?
It does not matter whether it is Al-Qaida, the Taliban, the clergy running Iran or the militants in Egypt and half a dozen other countries. They all want to turn their little piece of Eden into an Islamic state. Even the despots use religion for their own nefarious ends.
In other words, a state that is run according to their own ideals, beliefs and benefit; and to hell with everyone else! (Literally)
This double whammy of ignorance and religious extremism combined with the Israeli/Palestinian question is what we will look at in Part 4 of “If I ruled the World!”
Your Humble scribe;
Allan W Janssen
Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 (what the church doesn't want you to know!) at; www.God-101.com
And the petition to have people mind their own business instead of yours at; http://www.petitiononline.com/moses/petition.html
posted by Allan W Janssen | 1:01 p.m.
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