There is much buzz about the recent defeats and ‘successes’ of ISIS. They are pulling back from a city here, lost a battle there, and some important leadership is killed in an air strike. On the other hand they’ve succeeded in shooting down an air plane, slaughtered civilians in public areas, and generally engaged in expected terrorist action. The only truth is to these victories is this: ISIS is a convenient banner for militants to rally toward so we can efficiently kill them, they are not the end-all Middle Eastern evil. The fact remains that the very conditions which generate militant Islam are not being addressed so we will never stop it.
If we were to someday deliver a crushing defeat to ISIS, kill its leaders, or hell, slaughter every single one of their troops; the only difference in tomorrow would be that attacks in the name of Islam would not have the ISIS stamp on it. The poor middle easterner’s jihad against the accursed infidel will continue in perpetuity, whether they have a banner to fly above it or not.
We all live in this delusion that if we somehow just destroy all these existing ‘bad’ people that the remaining commoners/clerics/radical wealthy will rally and establish a West friendly state. We then all hold hands and sing in harmony.
I find the very idea that a rural middle easterner would even consider Western forms of government practice (secular legal system, open elections, liberal cultural acceptance, etc.) to be ridiculous. You cannot ‘convince’ or ‘convert’ a 40 year old farmer of anything. Their beliefs and ideology are directly tied to their own upbringing and experience. I am reminded of a very telling quote I found in a BBC news article. This is the quote
“Arif Mohamady, in his late 20s, is angry and frustrated. ‘There are no jobs here, no security and lots of corruption. I’d rather live in an infidel country,’ he said.
‘In 2007 my father was killed in a suicide bombing. My mother and brother were killed by the Taliban. I know it’s a dangerous journey but I’d rather die on the way than stay in Afghanistan.’ “
The phrase “I’d rather live in an infidel country” I think speaks volumes about how middle easterners see the West. It is a vessel to be used for survival and nothing more. A farmer doesn’t have any love for his cow, he milks it until it’s dry, then slaughters for beef before it withers. Europe is not a paradise or a utopia these people flee to in order to ‘convert’ to western sensibilities. Their desires are entirely utilitarian and it is our great task is to convert these people to our way of life before it’s too late. This is an area where Europe has clearly failed.
Slaughter is Easy, Conversion Takes Effort
Ideological conversion takes generations within a very special set of environmental circumstances, it cannot be done with weapons and it cannot be done in years. And even if you do set up the environment correctly, the result is never what you anticipate. It’s like herding cats, they always go in some unforeseen direction. What forces people to change their beliefs is completely eradicating the way in which they relate to their world. That is, how they get food, shelter, water, and engage in social activity. You give people long life and a fat belly to go path A, and force them to endure starvation, illness, and death through path B. Much of the Middle East is going through this ‘westernization’ transition (mainly in densely populated urban centers), but it isn’t like they are enjoying it.
People fight tooth and nail to maintain their ideological perspective on the world. They will die before they listen to a foreigner attempt to teach them about their way of life. Existing status quos get altered (down with clerics/dictators and up with our urban capitalists) through internal conflict and struggle. Those struggles are a common trend throughout history, as everyone has an opinion on their vision of what the future holds. In societies where these visions are incredibly disjoint we have serious conflict. Otherwise we have elections/democratic separatist movements. In disjoint societies only those with the most guns get to decide.
But our future of the Middle East will never be the one we envision, where they convert to OUR system. Instead the future of the Middle East will be a mixture. They will combine only those Western elements that they must in order to maintain food, shelter, and water with maximum ease. Like evolution, pieces of the organism which are not a net negative (but still retain no utilitarian purpose) will remain. This is assuming of course that the West maintains its dominance long enough to ‘convert’ the Middle East. With the emergence of non-western power that vision is under threat.
Forever we will have our domestic religious freedom fighter. Continually fighting for that ancient infusion of religion and state.
Utopia
We Are Not A Utopia
As a westerner I want my world view to dominate. But western world views will not convince a poor starving 13 year old boy that he should continue to starve rather than attend a religious training camp (with guaranteed food and shelter, a pretty sweet package). I cannot move my way of life and give it to him. It is not possible.
Western world views will not stop urban Muslims from leaving their urban utopia in search of ultimate purpose in their life, perhaps of a spiritual nature which is entirely alien to our secular sensibilities. Since we have been raised to view our public life in a secular fashion and our religious life in a personal fashion, it is unfathomable that someone should choose both a religious public and personal life.
The only benefit of having this ISIS conflict is that it makes it easier for westerners to slaughter our terrorist enemies in a field of combat we have extreme advantages in (conventional war). If/when ISIS falls, the old battles will begin anew, enemies we cannot name and movements we lose track of will spring forth.
There are a couple ways of stopping this.
1. Circumvent all forms of fixed natural resource wealth from the region (stop buying their oil/ore/farming things) in order to force their urban centers to engage in western business. Then wait 200 years for the transition away from killing the west to occur. They still will not become western but our subway stations will remain safe.
2. Engage in attrition. Kill each other to the point where their side is so weak and maimed that it cannot possibly care about resistance any longer.
3. Invent our way out of ‘lesser’ earthlings grasp. Still waiting on that singularity guys.
Of course my vision is more cynical. We all will change. Through conflict, discussion, internet rage, news ramble, and dinner table discussion we slowly warp our views toward a more unified vision of our future for the human race. Our way of life is not the ‘truth’. Other nations are not ‘progressing’ to ‘catch up’ to our way of life. There are plenty of pathways to the future once you start questioning what that future should be. In the short term, the society which yields the best guns will be the “utopia” everyone strives toward.
Hardly all of us.
Although way too many of us.
I recall when Afghanistan was heading toward its first big election (purple thumbs).
A few female suicide bombers were prevented from blowing up voting areas.
They were convinced to talk.
Several had been ”married” only so their militant husband could set them up to be raped by one of his buddies.
Then the wife was placed in a dilemma: we kill you right now to restore ”honor” and you go to hell forever OR you put on a suicide bomb belt and kill a few voters giving yourself a small chance to be in Paradise.
Not too many options.
No good option.
There is no indication this type of emotional blackmail will stop with the end of any particular militant Islamic group.
This emotional blackmail is part and parcel of Islam.
BTW, young boys and men are also treated to this same thing.
The writings of the old general Sun are making sense more than ever, now. He maintained that a war is never won, until the enemy no longer wants to fight. If we go back to the dust up in the 40’s, we waged war like we meant it against two really tough enemies. Yes, we won and neither of the two major enemies has lifted a hand in anger to this day.
In this day of Obama’s impotent foreign policy, of warning the enemy before air strikes, and serving as the greatest Muslim apologist in the history of the religion; he and by consequence us have no intention of winning the war. Indeed, Obama regards our servicemen who are willing to run through the meat grinder as little more than dupes to be sacrificed for his political advancement. Expendable people who fight not to win, but to make a statement, this is the reason these brave people risk life and limb, over and over.
It is the image of Obama that is paramount and the reason we read articles like this; we can’t win, the enemy is too tough and we aren’t willing to make the necessary steps to be safe and secure. It’s better to dissolve the borders like Europe and let everyone share in the wealth of those who actually create wealth, whether it is the man who builds a sidewalk or the man who builds skyscrapers, the lazy, stupid, and useless aren’t going to be happy until we share the wealth with them. Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Clinton, Alinsky, and Obama called in Income Redistribution. This is the goal to break down the income and wealth creators; winning is out of the question and just too dang hard; besides, if you fight to win, the Social Justice Warriors will wet their trousers when their feelings are damaged.
To my friends, I am working on a historical roman novel. I am at 50,000 words and the book is coming alive.
Can’t defeat militant Islam? Really. Maybe until we yaknow, gave it more then a half assed try you might want to hold your criticism. Look I in no way mean to denigrate the unbelievable heroism of our guys in Iraq but the fact is we crush their army in a few weeks and then spent years tip toeing around. The ROE were bullshit, it caused 1,000s of deaths and crippling injuries.
For example, once we had proof that the IEDs were Iranian, all bets should have been off. Why wasn’t Iran just leveled? They saw our tepid response and upped the ante.
You need to begin realizing that Islam isn’t a religion, it’s a world domination ideology that wants to absorb all races and submerge the concept of race, religion, nationality, and culture in its own evil lying oppressive violent monoculture that masquerades as the Religion of Peace when that only means Unconditional Surrender to them.
So as a world domination ideology, we must have the co-operation of nations across the globe. Allowing Islam to remain untouched in say, Pakistan means the cancer will only return at a later date. Well you say Pakistan has nukes and won’t do shit. You see you’re still in the wrong state of mind-you’re living in the “Religion of Peace” era. That’s over, long gone. Like it or not, Islam has declared war on us non moslims, world wide.
What if we had allowed the Japs to conditionally surrender in WW11? Do you believe we would have had the last 70 years of peace with them leaving in place the bushido culture? Same deal with Pakistan. It’s either them or us. Just like with the Axis in WW11, there was no somewhere in the middle we could meet and live on the same planet in peace.
There have been almost 30,000 moslim attacks on the west since 9/11. Ahhh, hello, I see lights on up there but no one is answering the door.
Start with destroying that black rock in Mecca-what? Too…radical for you? Well, moslims believe that mohammed’s mojo protects Islam, take out their lodestone and the air is going to go out of their balloon. Hold off destroying Medina, for now.
Bomb Iran’s military infrastructure to rubble. ISIS too. And I mean Curtis LeMay levels of destruction. It is the absolute height of insanity that Iran has the capability to manufacture and ballistically deliver nuclear weapons. Are we out of our fucking minds? Same with N Korea but that’s for another day.
Immediately halt all moslim immigration, world wide. Monitor all mosques world wide and close any immediately found to be preaching jihad and deport those responsible. So you say, what about the native born Filipino jihadi Imam preaching hate in his country. See the next point.
Kill these radical imams that are preaching hate and jihad, world wide.
Stop all commerce with moslim countries. Isolate them. Did we buy goods from the Nazis? Why are we supplying our enemies with revenue? This includes denying use of the SWIFT system and looking very closely at our banks.
Immediately expel and deport all moslims from western universities here on visas. As for American born moslims, you can’t deport them and they have been responsible for dozens of “lone wolf” attacks. Same deal in Europe. This is a dilemma-FDR just put all the Japs in camps. I don’t know here. I do know I’d crack down on any sharia law popping up anywhere. CAIR, ISNA and NAMF would be at the top of my shit list. It’s scandalous that these organizations are allowed to preach their hate. CAIR was found guilty of sponsoring HAMAS! Why are they still in existence?
I would make the west as inhospitable to moslims as possible. Let them live in their own part of the world and as along as they do so peaceably, they’ll have no problem. Of course Islam being what it is, yaknow conquering people and terrorism, maybe that’s not even possible
Anyway that’s for starters.
Another problem is that ”militant Islam” has already spread, cancer-like to the ends of the earth.
In October 2014, the Pakistani Taliban pledged allegiance to ISIS.
In March 2015, Boko Haram pledged allegiance.
In October 2015, factions of the Somali group Al-Shabaab pledged allegiance.
Now 35 Islamist terror groups have pledged allegiance to ISIS.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/six-pakistan-taliban-leaders-swear-allegiance-isis-spokesman-n225386
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/03/25/concerns-isis-building-new-stronghold-in-afghanistan-and-pakistan/
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31784538
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/22/africa/al-shabaab-faction-isis/
http://intelcenter.com/maps/is-affiliates-map.html
ISIS is in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, and Egypt.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/14-people-arrested-in-spain-and-morocco-over-islamic-state-links-1440491843
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/03/africa/tunisia-terror-attacks-kasserine/
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/africa/18480-algeria-receives-list-of-1500-isis-fighters
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/isis-rises-in-libya
http://time.com/3969596/egypt-isis-sinai/
The new Caliphate is even in Turkey, the remnant of the Ottoman Empire.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/19/world/turkey-suicide-bomber-identified/
http://www.wsj.com/articles/syrian-opponents-of-islamic-state-killed-in-turkey-1446219172
The FBI says it has investigations into ISIS cells in all 50 states.
Back before he joined the then-new PJMedia Richard Fernandez blogged anonymously as Wretchard.
He wrote about ”militant Islam” all the time, mostly from his perspective as a native of the Philippines.
One such was his Ichneumon Wasp.
http://belmontclub.blogspot.com/2004/03/ichneumon-wasp-european-left-has.html
The alien from the Alien franchise was based on that nasty critter.
Wretchard ended his essay with this about the spread of militant Islam: “This thing must never reach the stars.”
Too bad, but this thing has reached all of this planet. And Wretchard’s commentary there about how the Left has abetted it still rings true.
@MM:
Any chance that you personally are ready to take on ISIS or militant Islam ???
Since 9/11 around 170000 Anericans have been murdered by other Americans. Please tell me more about your perceived danger of this “terrorism” thing
If it really is so great a threat should we be saying ” thanks Obama for keeping us so safe!” Or should we realize that it death by terrorism isn’t really much of a danger at all, much less than death by lightning
It’s here John, whether your head is in the sand or not.
My post didn’t just focus on the problem with Islam here in America but on the worldwide Islamic push for dar al-Islam.
Most rational people can see what is happening in the 2 countries in Europe with the highest percentage of moslims in them, France and Sweden.
Sweden is the rape capital of world thanks to the huge invasion of moslims, having gone from the safest country in Europe. France has experienced dozens of terrorist attacks from moslims and the numbers of these attacks are accelerating(here too) as the moslim percentage of their population increases. Jewish populations in both countries and elsewhere in Europe are fleeing-are they irrational?
Are you on board with the intent of Obama/Jarrett to allow 100s of 1,000s of “syrian refugees” to emigrate when ISIS has stated their intent to infiltrate themselves among this horde? When we’ve seen several of the Paris murderers did exactly that?
At what point would you come to the realization that western culture is not an appropriate setting for Islam and sharia law?
As for what will I do personally? I live in a small town in w Texas and should there be any attempt by moslims to build a mosque in my town or any of the surrounding small towns, I will oppose it as forcefully as is legal. Simply put, I do want them in my community. I’ve seen too many examples of what happens when they approach even 2-3% of the population in communities right here.
Your reply reeks of smugness. What has murder, by other means, have anything to do with getting murdered by Islamic terrorists? Just because there is a low probability that you’ll be struck by lightening, do you walk about outside in thunder and lightening storms? That’s a poor analogy pal.
Consider this article and get back to me.
http://politicallyshort.com/2015/11/28/islam-jihad-and-our-ignorance/
Got anymore shit to talk pal?