Behind the Façades in France: What expats and the mainstream media (French and American alike) fail to notice (or fail to tell you) about French attitudes, principles, values, and official positions…
Trying to make a religious war out of whole cloth with a weak and delirious US is the culprit, and Christianity the hurtful party when Jihad is at war with the civilized world. I expect nothing less from such a complete dissembler and abject idiot.
... What if we declared once and for all the separation of church and state in the region forever? Beneath a red banner from the salad days of group love behind the iron curtain saying "An Idea Such as This..."
A look at the map, even the ones carried by Le Monde on their web site can’t get their writers to dispose of their illusions that calling and hoping for a fake peace will ease the worried moon-children of the European commune.
UNIFIL’s area of responsibility corresponds exactly to the area of operation Hizballah has control over.
In rehab, they call that enablement. Even if the UN ever did grow enough of a spine to say something the “peace camp” would wish that they nary mention it at all for fear of their precious vision.
Nonetheless, things on the ground seem quite different. There are Lebanese who have no illusion of who’s really oppressing them:The mixed village population on the Israeli units path of advance, Druzes, Shiites, Sunnis and Christians, provides a useful shield for Hizballah fighters. They take full advantage of the directives to Israeli ground forces not to touch Druze and Christian villages. By long Lebanese tradition, the Druzes shut their village doors to Shiites, while the Christians accommodate them because they don’t know how long Israeli forces will be around to protect them against the Hizballah.
Similarly the usual ire the children of the corn have for the Lebanese Christians will be confused by what they see as alliances, and the locals see as a moral issue and one of protection against a jihadist organization intent on killing them based on their religion.The IDF found that certain local elements, which once cooperated with Israel forces during their 24-year occupation of South Lebanon until the May 2000 withdrawal, were still willing to be helpful. Their assistance shortened the Bint Jubeil operation and made its completion possible barring scattered gunfire early Tuesday, July 25.
What I’ve even heard western adult leftist say openly on several occasions is that the fact that there are still Arab Christian alive is hindering “the peace”. After I point out the obvious inhumanity of the though, and the fact that it’s none of their business, and rather sick to want other to die so that they can maintain their narrow and simplistic view of the region, I tell them to go fuck themselves. On one occasion I casually handed a fork to the listener in the bar a fork. As a convenience, of course.
a small pro-Israel rally on the site of old synagogue that was burned down on Kristallnacht, 1938. It was also the assembly point where Jews were gathered before they were sent to Gurs concentration camp in southern France. I'm sure the location of the rally was not coincidental.
A couple of Muslim-looking teenagers were obviously not happy with the rally, althought there wasn't much they could do about it with so many cops standing around.
There was a much larger anti-Israel march through Freiburg about a week ago. Their signs read—big surprise!—Bush #1 terrorist! They were really obnoxious, and they gave me the old Jihad-glare when I booed them and told them to go home. That's when the cops came over and told me that they wanted a peaceful demonstration, and that I should go home. I guess I was "provoking them".
John Rosenthal has more on Germany (and on the abolition of poverty in Europe, as illustrated by France), Michelle Malkin has more on angry peace activists, Dennis Prager says that the "Middle East conflict is difficult to solve, but it is among the simplest conflicts in history to understand", and Michael Medved points out that it should come as no surprise that some of the same angry leftists who stridently deny Israel’s “right to exist” similarly challenge the claims to nationhood of the United States of America.…
No, we aren’t talking about ingénue would-be supermodels, we’re talking “just plain folks” parasitically asking what their country can do for them:For two months the van was parked outside the Packard Bell computer factory in Angers, western France. Inside were three former employees on hunger strike: Tony Berthelot, Bruno Mouillé and Betty Bergeon.
Copycats, alas no. I think we see evidence of the Stockholm syndrome at work here whenever the state or public give in.
The French distinguish themselves, both statistically and anecdotally, ahead of Germans, Britons and even Americans in their obsession with blogs, the personal and public journals of the Internet agewrites Thomas Crampton in the International Herald Tribune.
Just why the French have embraced blogs more than most is anyone's guess, but explanations range from technical to historical and cultural.
Sixty percent of French Internet users visited a blog in May, ahead of Britain with 40 percent and little more than a third in the United States, according to Comscore, an Internet ratings service.
Likewise, French bloggers spent more than an hour in June visiting France's top-rated blog site, far ahead of the 12 minutes spent by Americans doing the same and less than 3 minutes for Germans, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.…
French blogs stands out in other measurable ways. They are noticeably longer, more critical, more negative, more egocentric and more provocative than their U.S. counterparts, said Laurent Florès, the French-born, New York-based chief executive of CRM Metrix, a company that monitors blogs and other online conversations on behalf of companies seeking feedback on their brands.
"Bloggers in the United States listen to each other and incorporate rival ideas in the discussion," he said. "French bloggers never compromise their opinions."
Baghdad Despatch # 22
Baghdad — December 26, 2004Religion and the Iraqi Elections
It is the day after Christmas, this being the second Christmas since Iraq was liberated. Tragically, many Iraqi Christians were afraid to celebrate openly. Almost two years after the US occupation and they are more afraid to celebrate their religion openly then they were under Saddam Hussein.
In fact, one of my friends at work, also an Iraqi Christian, is leaving for Jordan with his family. He is one of many. Clearly, our hopes of a stable country tolerant of all faiths are currently not coming to fruition.As I stated in my previous dispatch, religion and politics are almost totally intertwined in this part of the world. Probably one of our larger mistakes to date is to push too much for the development of a secular regime in Iraq. The religious leaders, especially in the Shia camp, are accorded such a high degree of political power by the Shiite population that to exclude them from politics would be a futile effort. We must incorporate them into the political process but we must also try to inculcate a sense of religious tolerance. From an American perspective, Iraq is an inherently conservative society. Some basic degree of Koranic inspired law that respects all faiths but maintains the essential conservative elements common to all sects and faiths would probably be amenable to the bulk of the population. It will be interesting to see how Islam is referenced in the final constitution. It will be even more interesting to see how the US copes with the election outcome if it does not turn out as desired.
A Grim Reminder
The bombing of the mess hall in Mosul served as a grim reminder to our ongoing danger. In response to this incident, all civilians must be frisked when entering the military dining facility. Eating lunch is now like boarding an airplane. Convenience is sacrificed for security. Of course, this in itself is a victory for the insurgency since additional resources and manpower are now required to feed the military and contractors.
Struck by this incident so close to Christmas, I decided to go to the hospital on Christmas Eve to lend my support to the injured troops. After giving away some magazines, I came back down to the lobby to run into a crowd awaiting the arrival of a VIP. It turned out to be Donald Rumsfeld. Upon arrival, he promptly wished us all a Merry Christmas. He was actually kind of short and looked tired from his day spent traversing the country.
Back to wrapping up my adventures traversing the Middle East . . .My Endorsement of Lebanon
In finishing up my adventures in Lebanon from my [previous] dispatch, I wanted to reiterate my great fondness for the country and its people. Despite the shadow of possible war in the future, I think the place has enormous potential, especially to be the next party capital and music scene. I found the Lebanese to be extremely interested in all forms of music from Yugoslavian gypsy bands and classical Lebanese Arabic singing to Trance, House, and Rock’n’Roll. Its anarchic, materialistic, and European flavor lends itself well to weekend getaways from the Continent. Granted, in many respects, it would simply be reclaiming its lost glory from before the war, but it could also serve as an alternate window into the Middle East, especially if Syria experiences “Regime Change” or opens up politically and economically.
A simple analogy might be that if Dubai is the Las Vegas of the Middle East, then Beirut is the New Orleans.Lessons from the West Bank
Our travels next took us to the Holy Land. Ryan and I flew from Amman, Jordan to Tel Aviv. This had to be one of the shortest but most interesting flights I have ever taken. We flew right over the Jordan River Valley and the West Bank. From that height, one could pick out the numerous Jewish settlements and Palestinian villages. The settlements tended to top the hills and looked extremely orderly while the Palestinian villages tended to reside in the valleys and looked more haphazard. A few days later, we traveled into the West Bank to go to Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity. There were no tourists. The Intifada had driven them all away. The locals were clearly hurting. The Church of the Nativity itself was very pretty and they have marked the spot where Christ came into the world and where he lay in the manger.
The following day, we traveled to Ramallah to see Arafat’s compound and tomb (he had died just two weeks previously). The compound was half in ruins and there was a large heap of destroyed cars. Guards stood at his tomb just outside the compound. There were many photographs of the former president. There were also many wreathes. There was even a wreath from UNICEF. We thanked the guards as we left and they seemed happy that we made it to pay our respects. Despite his obvious failings, one must certainly give him credit for instilling a sense of nationhood and unity among the Palestinians. One of the more interesting rumors we heard about his death is that he may have converted to Christianity before the end. Imagine the monkey wrench that would throw into regional politics should it turn out to be true and publicized!
The general feeling now, at least among the Palestinians that we spoke to, is that peace with the Israelis is now more possible since his death. It seems that perhaps a degree of optimism is present.Our guide during these travels was a Christian Palestinian. He was quite proud to take us to Ramallah and even treated us to tea and baklava at one of the nicest restaurants in town. Ramallah is actually pretty pleasant for it is apparently the wealthiest Palestinian town. We were told the poorest Palestinian areas are in Gaza. One of the more interesting sights occurred at night as we drove back through the West Bank toward Jerusalem. The Jewish settlements were all extremely well lit and with ample sources of power. The Palestinian villages, on the other hand, were barely any lit at all.
I also want to point out that despite the obvious failings of the peace process to date, there is an ongoing drive on the part of religious leaders from both sides to bridge the gap. They are trying to succeed where the politicians have failed. We had the opportunity to meet one of the prominent Palestinian politicians involved in this process. However, one of the problems is finding the necessary funding. The Great Powers who proclaim to have an interest in solving this conflict should take note and perhaps diversify their strategies. Despite the challenges, I think this informal religious approach can also be used in Iraq.
Where the secular Iraqi politicians fail, we must succeed elsewhere. This is especially important considering that the Iraqi elections may not prove decisive in legitimizing the government and restoring stability.
Lefty Britain: their lives have become a never ending contest to apologize, a stampede to be first at the tut-tut stone. The soft bigotry of low expectations has mutated into an overt bigotry of expecting skin color or origin to establish the behavior of the new gangmasters: the gutmenschen of the culture of concern.
Of flawed attempts at social engineering:
Indeed she doesn’t. These “betters” making one pronouncement or another about public life don’t seem to realize their own tyranny. Moreover, decades of their “moral leadership” have reduced their admirers to a state of stupidity as we can see in this question:
Is it better to memorialise the dead - or to get on with living our own lives?
Connoisseurs of human life and being are otherwise uniformly aware that this is how we say goodbye to those we love, miss, and admire. It’s how we go on.
The author should note that we will not be memorials to the depth of their reasoning.
They’re trying to look like they’re preaching “dialog” with the U.S., but beyond the peddling of business ventures, all there really is that constitutes a “bridge” is what it usually is. The disinct pattern can be easily detect here on their rather lame blog that has a overdesigned “professionally” look, and a theme.
Not enough clues? It has nearly nothing to do with the EU when you consider the author’s interest. When being Europeans amounts to so little that it only amounts to “not being American”, then there really is an existential identity vacuum that they have to attend to before they show so much “concern” for the U.S.
Oddly enough, the author’s own blog is hosted at Rice University in Texas.
U.S.A.
“Concern”. They always like to use the word “concern”.
Thanks.
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Such “dialogue” with Islamists of all stripes, representatives of Arab dictatorships and all sorts of self-appointed spokespersons for the Arab and Islamic world has been underway for over ten years now. Astonishingly, it is seldom asked what results it has in fact produced. Two years of “dialogue” with Iran over its nuclear program has, for example, brought no results whatsoever. Unperturbed, the Iranian Mullah Regime is sticking to its plans to build a bomb, just as if all the many positive rounds of discussion had never taken place.
”Dialog” even when you’re being suckered. Why then? What, then, is driving the “old” Europeans? Is it cowardice, as Matthias Doepfner recently suggested, a preemptive capitulation to Islamism, as Bernard Lewis suspects, appeasement as Henryk M. Broder (“Europe – appeasement is your middle name”) has insisted, or a mix of stupidity and arrogance coupled with a large dose of anti-American and anti-Semitic resentments? Can it really be the case, as Nikolaus Blome recently put it in the pages of Die Welt, that a German Chancellor seriously defends the view that although Iran does indeed want the bomb, “this does not [threaten] world peace as much as that American President manically fixated on going to war”? Even the most experienced observers of the so-called dialogue with Islam and the Arab world are left looking for answers.
Denis Boyle: Not on the Left. At the the Independent, where confusion reigns in effusive style, the editors were so perplexed by the world around them that they had nothing but questions for their readers, including one on the front page — “Middle East: Who backs immediate ceasefire?” (Correct answer: “I do, sir!”) — and another over a main news story: “Why is there not a murmur of protest from Washington?” 
Normally, for example, one reads newspapers for answers.
As if what Hizballah is up to is so simple, that it’s just about the Shiites anyway. When you’re a simpleton like Pancho, it HAS to be. It couldn’t possibly be about Jihad fueled by Mommy-Dearest-Syrian injecting that charm that can only come from a control-freak.
« We can’t stop the fighting! Lebanon is full of Shiites! »
« But the Shiites are our friends in Iraq! »
We've received e-mails from him a few days ago and he described the fact that he was taking within - in one case - three meters of his position "for tactical necessity - not being targeted". Now that's veiled speech in the military and what he was telling us was Hizbullah fighters were all over his position and the IDF were (sic) targeting them and that's a favorite trick by people who don't have representation in the UN. They use the UN as shields knowing that they can't be punished for it."
G-Mailers: ever notice that line at the top that seems like a cross between fortune cookie wisdom and a NYT ticker tape? Click the image to see one of their recycling tips.
