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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elsewhere who wrote (122611)	12/31/2003 10:37:58 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

re: interview with André Glucksmann: This is a classic case of trying to take the splinter out of the Other's eye, but not the log out of your own. The Islamists are nihilists, and they obey no law (except the Law of the Jungle), and they put no limits on their violence. All true. But the problem is much worse than that, because the nihilists are also in charge, in the U.S. and Israel. They, too, justify unlimited and permanent violence against the Others. Bin Laden kills 3000 in the WTC. The U.S. Special Forces, together with General Dostum's soldiers, kill 3000 Taliban (after they have surrendered). What's the difference? Bin Laden follows the Koran, about as well as Bush follows the Sermon on the Mount. Both consistently advocate killing, as the solution to all problems. <‘Long live death!’: religious shell, nihilist kernel> Good description of the "Christianity" of the NeoCons. No mercy, no forgiveness, no love, the whole New Testament set aside. With the doctrine of preventive war, they've even abandoned the justice and reciprocity of Moses. They worship the God of Abraham and Joshua, a tribal War God, a God of vengeance and blood sacrifice. A God like Kali, who is usually depicted dancing on the corpses of her victims, wearing a belt of human skulls. <Pacifism is a kind of complacency.> Here is where he makes clear, he isn't really against nihilism. He's only against the Other's nihilism. Within his own tribe, his own culture/religion/nation, he wants to exalt violence, by equating pacifism with surrender. For him, a willingness to kill is the greatest virtue. Unwillingness to kill, (and in particular, to kill on command, when the Commander in Chief orders it) is cowardice. Muslim theology divides Jihad into two kinds: 1. the Greater Jihad, which is personal purification through faith, self-discipline, and good works. 2. the Lesser Jihad, which is Holy War. Overwhelmingly, both Christians and Muslims currently prefer practicing the Lesser Jihad. And using the Other's nihilism, as a propaganda tool to reinforce their own nihilism.

To: Elsewhere who wrote (122611)	1/1/2004 12:35:19 AM
From: skinowski	Respond to of 281500

I have been answering ‘yes’ for years. One thing that is worse than war is genocide – that is, the extinction of a whole people. Many people said this before Auschwitz. In Greek tragedy, it is revealed in the destruction of Troy. This is indeed the horizon of western history. That is why I don’t believe that the refusal to take part in a war against Saddam should be seen as an expression of humanism, but of a blindness that exists not only in Europe, but in all civilisations. We all want to live peacefully, oblivious and happy. That wish already existed in ancient Athens, and there is nothing wrong with it as such, except that it is not very realistic. That's pretty good, actually... And the final paragraph is also impressive: But the overriding question remains: what about Saddam Hussein? If I may be a little moralistic here: I could not look at myself in the mirror if Saddam Hussein were still in power because I have been to a demonstration against Bush, and as a result, the people in Iraq had to live in this totalitarian regime for another twenty years. Not bad at all. Tomorrow, once the effects of the Champaign are gone, I'll try to figure out what is it that he says about Dostoevsky, and how does he manage to determine that Nihilism is the root of all conceivable evil... g/ng. Happy New Year everyone!