Newsweek's website posted an interesting interactive graph detailing the breakdown of the Muslim populations in all the European countries as a means of tracking immigration and the issues facing Europe regarding assimilation issues in today's political and religious climate.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12757599/
Editor on 12/25/06
As a book junkie, I am in bookstores all the time, studying what is new in the categories that interest me and many do.
The post 9-11 world is filled with books covering every topic and every angle imaginable. Everyone is attempting to get their word out or their two cents in. It's really quite interesting. Often more interesting than the book is the strategy behind each book. You often learn more about the motive of the publisher and author by how they choose to invest their time in putting out the volume than you learn about the book itself. More importantly, it is necessary to realize that whoever the author, you must determine to what degree you buy what is being sold.
A case in point is the 2003 publication by Mr. Kenneth Pollack of The Council of Foreign Affairs. Prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Pollack put out a monster of a book called The Threatening Storm that required tremendous efforts to detail the vast WMD factory Saddam had cooking and how we were basically seconds away from Armageddon. The reason I refer to it as a monster of a book is the size, the package, the reviews, the effort put forth portraying Pollack as a genuine expert on the topic. Anyone that read that book came away feeling that Saddam was an eminent threat to this country that had to be dealt with "pronto." For the record, the book was hailed by many at the time who condemn the war today such as Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek who raved about it as "must reading."
Needless to say, things did not play out as Pollack reported. Now I understand that anything could have happened to the definite WMD's Pollack reported. However, I am most disturbed by his reaction as the events that followed did not support his work. In the few interviews he managed to give, Pollack did not support his research. Not in the slightest. Instead, he took a position of victim, as if he was lied to by the administration and not at all responsible for what had to be a body of work that took years of his life to manufacture. It was a terrible turn off.
My point here is that you simply must research your sources. Just because a book is published, well-packaged and even well-reviewed, that does not guarantee there is legitimacy to it's content at all. Today Pollack's book does serve a purpose, but certainly not the one he intended. It is a valuable reference source for the climate at the time prior to the ultimate invasion.
Searching through my personal archives I came across a frightening article by Charles Krauthammer that has stayed with me. I think one of the great misconceptions of the left and right views in this country is to selectively discount the word of others. Should a Bin Laden state he wants to kill all "infidels," do not discount such statement because it seems improbable by Western values. If the leader of the Iranian regime says he wants to destroy Israel in a great ball of fire at the same time they are fast breaking towards a nuclear weapon, pay attention. Let's not treat these people as pets that we can pacify with carrots and daises. Of course, it is imperative we educated ourselves, make every rational attempt at dialogue and work hard towards peaceful solutions. However, to simply ignore dialogue from a culture so different than our own culture is a huge miscalculation.
Never Again?
By Charles Krauthammer Friday, May 5, 2006
When something happens for the first time in 1,871 years, it is worth noting. In A.D. 70, and again in 135, the Roman Empire brutally put down Jewish revolts in Judea, destroying Jerusalem, killing hundreds of thousands of Jews and sending hundreds of thousands more into slavery and exile. For nearly two millennia, the Jews wandered the world. And now, in 2006, for the first time since then, there are once again more Jews living in Israel -- the successor state to Judea -- than in any other place on Earth.
Israel's Jewish population has just passed 5.6 million. America's Jewish population was about 5.5 million in 1990, dropped to about 5.2 million 10 years later and is in a precipitous decline that, because of low fertility rates and high levels of assimilation, will cut that number in half by mid-century.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/04/AR2006050401458.html
Playback Editor's Note:
Two-and-a-half years ago in May 2004, VDH warned that all the squabbling over Iraq could be put to rest should the United States take the initiative and defeat the insurrectionists, the premise being that most have no ideology, but most certainly do not want to be associated with a losing enterprise. Then he was worried that the withdrawal from the first attack of Fallujah and the escape of Sadr sent a terrible message that the United States was not winning, and that such magnanimity would be unfortunately considered weakness, leading only to more violence.
May 28, 2004
Our Reptilian Brains When “Just Win, Baby” sadly trumps everything else.
by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online
After our victory in Afghanistan, the president's approval ratings soared, only to descend during the acrimony leading up to the March invasion of Iraq. But after the three-week war, somewhere between 60 and 70 percent of these same Americans purportedly returned to their earlier support of the president's initiatives.
More "Our Reptilian Brains"
Editor on 12/25/06
The following article is published in The Jerusalem Post on 12/25/06 by Alan Dershowitz. It basically exposes the guest list for the recent Holocaust denial conference sponsored in all seriousness by Inan's ruling regime. Perhaps more frightening and disturbing than the fact that the conference took place at all is the guest list the Iranian president appeared proud to showcase. Following the purported seventeen page lecture letter that he sent to President Bush a few months back urging conversion to Islam as an intricate part of a peace process; it appears the chasm between our understanding each others' cultures is gigantic.
Jews for Ahmadinejad By Alan Dershowitz
By this time, everyone knows that Jews for Jesus are not really Jews. They are Christians using the cover of their Jewish origin to fool people into coming to their proselytizing services. But many people still think that the seven bearded enemies of Israel - members of an extreme cult called Neturei Karta - who accepted an invitation from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to come to Iran's Holocaust denial festival, are also real Jews.
Still others believe that supporters of Hizbullah and Holocaust minimizers like Norman Finkelstein - who uses his Jewish birth to cover for his anti-Semitism - are real Jews. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I now propose a new vocabulary for describing these imposters. From now on, the Neturei Karta should be known as Jews for Ahmadinejad, and Norman Finkelstein and his ilk should be known now as Jews for Hizbullah.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164881965352&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
Editor on 12/25/06
This came out as the top headline on Christmas Day. . . it is widely recognized that Iran is the main destabilizing force in the war in Iraq. They are clearly opposed to the US goal of a successful democracy in Iraq.
For months Iran has been destabilizing our efforts by backing the Shia military militia with weapons and money. The Republican Guard has been training terrorist forces that have been killing both American soldiers and Iraqi soldiers and civilians. In the last two weeks Iran has held a highly publicized conference on Holocaust denial and has openly refused to comply with UN sanctions for nuclear determent. Today we find out that the US military has captured Iranian "officials" in Iraq but the way the article reads, it subtly makes the military appear to be the bad guys.
The article appears to be framed as if the US military is acting like a loose cannon, kidnapping Iranian diplomats that were Iraqi government guests, upsetting them greatly. In addition, the Bush administration has not released it's explanation for it's actions as if the military in a time of war must clear it's tactics in time for the media's deadline.
Just unbelievable. Closer to reality would be a lead stating "The US military has captured Iranian agents who were responsible for the sabotage and killing of hundreds of US and Iraqi soldiers and civilians over the past six months? " Perhaps if there was any support of this magnitude, public sentiment would not be as distorted as it is today.
U.S. Is Holding Iranians Seized in Raids in Iraq
By James Glanz and Sabrina Tavernise
Published: December 25, 2006
BAGHDAD, Dec. 24 — The American military is holding at least four Iranians in Iraq, including men the Bush administration called senior military officials, who were seized in a pair of raids late last week aimed at people suspected of conducting attacks on Iraqi security forces, according to senior Iraqi and American officials in Baghdad and Washington.
The Bush administration made no public announcement of the politically delicate seizure of the Iranians, though in response to specific questions the White House confirmed Sunday that the Iranians were in custody.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/25/world/middleeast/25iraq.html?hp&ex=1167109200&en=4e111a821b3118d9&ei=5094&partner=homepage
