The New Middle East

The objective of religion is to bring peace to the soul, the community, and the nation. The world has progressed since the dawn of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula, Muslims peoples no longer wish to be unified under the banner of Islam, rather, they seek nationalistic goals. Do the Kurds wish to remain a part of the Islamic Republic (of Iran)? Do they not seek independence from Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran? That is but one example of a Muslim people who have been oppressed for centuries by their so-called Muslim brethren and have lost all desire to live under a unified Islamic banner.

You are basing this on the assumption that the majority of Muslims are religious �which they are not. The majority of Muslims are nominally Muslim and their tribal, nationalistic, cultural identification precedes Islam.

Where did you learn this? You are purposefully viewing history through a nostalgic prism. The truth of the matter is that there has always been conflict within Islam. Sunni versus Shia, Arab versus Persian, Persian versus Turk, Turk versus Arab, Turk versus Turk, Arab versus Arab, Arab versus Berber, etc.

I stated some historical conflicts earlier in this post. I will quote more recent conflicts amongst Muslim peoples for you here: Arab versus Kurd, Kurd versus Turk, Tajik versus Pashtun, Pashtun versus Pakistani, Sudanese Arab versus Black African, Somali versus Somali, distrust between Gulf Arab states, etc.

Why would it not include the Shia? Just earlier in this post, you claimed that there had never existed conflict between Muslims and that there still does not exist conflicts between true Muslims, yet, you wish to completely exclude the Shia?

No, you are wrong. Natural resources �and specifically oil, gas reserves �are only plentiful in the Gulf Arab states, Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Libya, and Afghanistan. What of the remaining Islamic countries? What of Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Niger, Chad, Somalia, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and others??? What resources do they have? They have either none or at least not a significant amount to impact their respective economies.

Invalid point. Invalid point. Invalid point.

I am sorry, but the invalid point here is the illusions which the Arab Nation and Islamic Nation is privy too. The dictators, tyrants, corrupt rulers are not the puppets of the West although some have been bought since they first came to power. The Arabs and Muslims, and no one else, no external force, is responsible for corruption, tyranny, and the current plight of the Arab and Muslim World. Instead of placing the blame on the West or foreign powers, why not just accept the fact that Islamic, and especially Arab culture is responsible for producing such an environment wherein the likes of Saddam Hussein, Muammar Al Gaddafi, Bashar Al-Assad, Hosni Mubarak, are able to rise to prominence?

The definition you provided was your own as well or at least or the interpretation of your religion by someone other than you.

I can ask you the same question. Who are you to speak for Muslims when you claim that all 1.4 billion of them wish to be unified and live as citizens of a single nation-state?

The Turks are nationalists. The Iranians are nationalists. The Afghans are nationalists. The Pakistanis are nationalists. The Iraqis are nationalists. The Palestinians are nationalists. The Libyans are nationalists. All the Gulf Arabs are nationalists. If these peoples were not nationalistic or did not have a history of nationalism, then why are there 19 Arab states (I am not including the non-Arabic speaking Black African states of Somalia, Djibouti, and Comoros Islands) instead of one? Why are there 57 some odd countries in the Organization of the Islamic Conference instead of one?

Sounds like an excuse now that your theory has been disproved.

Now you are again blaming foreigners for the problems in the Middle East? How unexpected.

The British did not betray anyone. The Kurds wanted a separate state, but the Turks did not want to cede their eastern territories to them, and neither did the Arabs (in Iraq and Syria) or the Iranians. I do not see any betrayal here. The Kurds are Muslims. The Turks, Syrians, Iraqis, and Iranians are Muslims. According to your logic, the Kurds should have been happy living amongst their co-religionists.

Oh, I think I can.

And I just did.

You do not want me using the Kurdish example because it nullifies your wishful Islamist argument of a unified Islamic state spread throughout the world �even if it is carved out from non-Muslim majority lands.

There was a recent study done in Iran in which 88% of Iranian youth stated that they were non-religious and did not follow or seek to follow the tenets of Islam. The Bosnians, Albanians, Turks, Azerbaijanis, Central Asian Turkic Muslims, and Muslims of the North Caucasus all tend to be nominally Muslim if not outright atheist due to the influence of the former USSR.

The number of Muslim women who engage in pre-marital sex with non-Muslim men is countless; I think this would qualify them as being only nominally Muslim. The number of Muslim men who consume alcohol (and deny it in the company of other Muslims) is common as well, only a minority of Muslims fast during the month of Ramadan �I can give you more examples but I am sure that you have witnessed these types of things as well.

And yes, I have traveled to Islamic countries.

Afghanistan was carved out of Iran by the Durrani tribe to function as a Pashtun state independent of the Persians. That is one example.

During Ottoman rule, the Albanian Muslims sought independence from the Caliphate.

Did you want me to list any more?

No, it certainly is not nonsense. There has always existed a tribal, nationalistic, and historical rivalry between various ethnic or linguistic groups in the Middle East and even amongst various Arabs themselves.

Nonsense is the nostalgia, the wishful thinking on the part of Islamists who dream of the day when the Caliphate will be restored. Do you think once this occurs that the Turks and Kurds will embrace as brothers? Will too the Arabs and Persians? The Iraqis and Kuwaitis? The Sudanese Arabs and the Black African Muslims of Darfur?

This is Islamist propaganda. The history of Arab-Turkish, Arab-Persian, Turkish-Persian, Persian-Mughal, Afghan-Mughal, Arab-African, etc. conflict lies both prior to the advent of Islam and was very present during the time of the Caliphate.

Seems to me that you follow the Sunni school of thought to the tee and your wish to exclude the Shia comes more from your prejudices, your rivalry, towards them than this politically correct excuse you have mustered forth.

No, they do not. The Muslims are the most impoverished peoples in the world. Name one Muslim-majority country that has a viable economy independent of oil exports. Do you think the Gulf Arab states and Libya can survive once their oil fields run empty?

Yes, but I have never read an Islamist-inspired history book. Have you?

Many countries throughout the world have been colonized, had their borders drawn, and been subjected to the rule of puppet governments. What makes the Middle East so different? Except that the Arabs are so backward that they cannot help but feel sorry for themselves for 60-plus years. Was Hong Kong not colonized? Was India not colonized? Was the entire Western Hemisphere not colonized? Why is the Middle East so different?

Saddam Hussein was never a puppet of the West. He was an ally. Shall I show you pictures of Madeline Albright at a dinner with Kim Jung Il? Does this mean that he is or was a puppet of America? The United States administration has also met with various former Chechen Muslim leaders, Aslan Maskadhov was invited to Washington, DC when he was the de facto president of Chechnya, he later met with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and received money, training, and fighters from him. Are you going to tell me that Maskadhov was an American stooge as well?

What does it matter where they were educated? If you had the means, you too would send your own children to the best schools. Al-Assad and Qadhafi are both Arab nationalists and support terrorists Islamist organizations (you can call them freedom fighters or resistance fighters but when they blow up children and civilians alike �Muslim and non-Muslim � they are nothing but terrorists)! If I attend American University in Cairo and come back to the States, would that make me a puppet of the Egyptians? Roflllll You have some ridiculous reasoning my friend.

Your turn.