Sunday, January 20, 2008

The Latest from Fjordman, Belatedly

I’ve been so busy lately that I neglected to mention not just one, but two excellent essays from Fjordman posted at other sites.

The first is an extensive survey of the cultural heritage and strategic importance of the eastern half of the Roman Empire. Here are some excerpts from “The Legacy of Byzantium”:

It is impossible to understand the history of Eurasia for the past 1600 years without devoting considerable space to the Byzantine Empire. It had great influence on Western, Russian and Middle Eastern culture, especially on what is called Islamic civilization, which simply would not have existed without the Greco-Roman heritage of the Byzantines.

Despite this, the legacy of Byzantium is too often ignored in the West. The reason why so many Westerners buy into the idea that Muslims “preserved the Greek heritage” is that they know so little about the Byzantine Empire, where Greek texts were actually preserved and passed on.

Westerners usually say that the Roman Empire “fell” in the fifth century AD. The Western Roman Empire, which included the least urbanized regions, did collapse following the partition after the death of the emperor Theodosius the Great in 395. However, the Eastern Roman Empire endured until it was extinguished by Turkish Muslims a thousand years later.

The inhabitants of the Byzantine Empire called themselves “Romans,” not Byzantines. Since the Byzantine Empire was a direct continuation of the Roman Empire, it is a matter of interpretation when Roman history ends and Byzantine history begins. Personally, I prefer to speak of the Eastern Roman Empire after the Roman Empire was divided in two in 395 and the Byzantine Empire primarily of the Greek-dominated entity that remained after the Arab conquests in the seventh century.

Read the rest at Dhimmi Watch.

The second essay, at The Brussels Journal, concerns a thinly-veiled threat issued by the Grand Mufti of Syria against the Netherlands, and an all but total blackout of news about it in the European media:
- - - - - - - - -
The EU is now practicing this media censorship. According to Dutch blogger Klein Verzet, the Grand Mufti of Syria threatened Holland: “Should it come to riots, bloodshed and violence after broadcasting the Quran movie by PVV-leader Geert Wilders, then Wilders will be responsible. This was said by the Grand Mufti of Syria, Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassoun, Tuesday in the European Parliament, where he gave a speech at the invitation of the fraction presidents. If Wilders tears up or burn a Quran in his film ‘this will simply mean he is inciting wars and bloodshed. And he will be responsible’, according to the Grand Mufti. Al Hassoun thinks it is ‘the responsibility of the Dutch people to stop Wilders’.”

If you read the official texts by the EU media, this threat has been totally removed.

Fjordman’s conclusion:

In 2006, the above mentioned German Christian Democrat Hans-Gert Pöttering stated that European school textbooks should be reviewed for intolerant depictions of Islam to ensure they don’t propagate prejudice. He suggested that the EU could co-operate with the 56-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference to create a textbook review committee. Islamic countries are thus supposed to decide what is taught about Islam throughout the European Union. One would assume that “prejudice” against Islam will include any mention of almost 1400 years of continuous Jihad warfare on several continents, including Europe. This confirms my view that the only way to save Europe now, or even parts of it, is to totally dismantle the entire European Union.

Read the rest of the post at The Brussels Journal.

14 comments:

Ed Mahmoud said...

Scary, really. Threatening Euro bloggers who publish the truth with thought crime prosecutions, pushing an agenda of Islamic multi-cultural crap, and keeping the dark edges of Islam hidden from the public as well as they can.


I'm sure the EUcrats, like the American Democrat party, see new migrant arrivals to the welfare state as future votes, and a guarantor of power. But do they really think they can let the Islamic cancer get firmly planted in Europe, and then control it?

Idiots, really. Although, I guess, in a post-Christian/secular Europe, if one doesn't concern oneself with what happens after one dies, just in the immediate decade or two into the future, it probably seems a grand bargain.

VinceP1974 said...

There's a cool little video that the satire site The People's Cube did regarding the whole Pope/ Byzanthine Empire comment controversay from last year.

1389 said...

Pro-jihadist censorship - it's happening everywhere, not just in the EU:

Belarus jails publisher for three years over Mo-toons

Ezra Levant vs. Canadian Human Rights Commission

Foehammer: Experiencing difficulties beyond my control

Ed Mahmoud said...

'Windybon' at GCP posted this link to a psychological analysis of Hillary Clinton. But the analysis of a narcissistic personality that hates their own culture, seems to fit the Euro left equally well.

Afonso Henriques said...

Baron, sorry vor being such a pain in the ass but I am a big fun of Fjordman.

I am begging you to just keep following Fjordman's essays because I can not get all of them by my one (as many, I belive) once they are o dispersed all over the net.

I know of some sites, namely The Fjordman File but I have already noticed that Gates of Vienna gets much more Fjordman's essays than that site.

I also do not know where Fjordman posts, the only sites where I usually get Fjordman's essay are Brussels Journal and Gates of Vienna.

By following all the Fjordman's essays in your blog you are doing a big favour to the counter jihad moviment, as well as to the European Nationalisms against the uropean Union. I hope European Natiolaism to be influenced by Fjordman!

Well, that is what I have to say.

A good rest of the day to all of you.

Afonso Henriques said...

I kmow Fjordman will not read this, much less get my point, but it may be usefull to some GoV readers.

In his essay, "The Legacy of Bizatium", Fjordman weote:

"The Renaissance took place in the city-states of northern Italy, which built their fortunes to a large degree on trade with Byzantine Christians and imported Classical texts from Byzantium; it did not happen in Spain or Portugal under Muslim rule. Sicily was for several centuries occupied by Arabs, but Sicily didn't give us the Italian Renaissance, it gave us the Italian mafia, with their blood feuds and protection money. Indeed, for a thousand years or more, the most developed regions of Italy have been in the north while the least developed regions have been in the south. As far as I know, such a division between the northern and southern halves of the Italian Peninsula did not exist in Roman times. It developed during the Middle Ages, and it's tempting to see it as a result of the prolonged impact of Islamic Jihad."

That difference North-South is seen, in my view, in Portugal and Spain. The North is generally more... you name it! The more south you go the less "developement" (but not only) we have. Except of course, the resort regions like Algarve or the Southern coast of Spain.
Alentejo and Andalucia, the South of both Portugal and Spain is where one sees more communism and more leftism. The more North you go the prouder are the people about their traditions and as so, conservatives.
Lisbon, Toledo, Madrid, despite being in the centre have been created and populated mainly by Northerners from which derives that cities spritit.
We can see that in Yugoslavia.
Despite beinhg ethnic the same, speaking the same language, the difference for have being "purely" European and for being under the muslims is too great that Croatians and Serbians can not have their join state.
It is not just about recent wars... it is in the very inside of the peoples. Islam can divide peoples as we can attest in the Croatian/Serbian context.
Before Islam set foot in the Balkans, Croatians and Serbians were one and the same.

Lastly, what you say about Italy is true, though South Italy is a thriving place too in many ways, and Sicilia has contributed to the whole of the European Civilisation with much more than the Mafia.

Actually, the North South division in Itally wwere already visible before the Roman Empire:
The North was Italo-Celtic
The centre was Italic (Latin/Etruscan/etc)
The South was Itao-Greek

Actually, whereas the Norrth and Centre of Italy rapidly evolved to a whole of different independent city states who gave birth to the Renassaince, the South was a despotic Germanic Empire with less correlation with Rome than the Germanic Portugal (Suebi), Spain (Visigoths) and even France (Franks).
It was not just the muslims because, after all, Italy was never muslim.

Croat555 said...

Alfonso,

please refrain from writing about things that you do not fully understand. While it is true that Serbs spent 500 years under Turkish rule and Croats did not, to say that before Turks we were one and the same is plainly wrong.

In 6th century when Croats settled these areas they came as Croats, people with their own name and organization. They came and developed independently of Serbs. No matter the Turks, Renaissance, Enlightenment, Great Schism or anything else that comes into the picture, we were different 1400 years ago and we are still different today.

Afonso Henriques said...

Please, Croat555, understand that I do not have the intent of offend you but, can you tell me how or hen do Serbs and Croats diverge?

I am quiet curious... I thought Croats had more Roman/Germanic influences whereas Serbs had Orthodox/Turk influences. I thought both Croats and Serbs were from the same "common branch of the same tree". Brother peeoples which even language was shared.
Maybe I am being falacious, I am not omniscient.

Croat555 said...

"Common branch of the same tree" in what sense? You could claim this for most of Slavic/Slavic speaking nations. While it seems to be true that we were neighbors in various times and places, history does not remember that we have ever been one and the same.

That is all I have to say about it here. If you want to know more check Wikipedia articles on both our histories and origins, they are not all that bad.

. said...

The comment about the Arabs sweeping "from nowhere" to destroy the Persian empire and greatly diminish the Greek empire reminds me of another group of austere Middle Eastern outsiders who swept aside a settled civilization "out of nowhere."

The Israelites (or "Hebrews," from an ancient Canaanite word meaning "outsider"). 13th century B.C.

The parallels are striking.

. said...

Croat555: There's one other not-so-little tell-tale sign, that the Serbs and Croatians are closer than they think.

The language. It's the same. And, since ethnicity and linguistic affiliation are closely linked, it means that Serbs and Croats are much closer to each other than they appear to be comfortable with.

Although I've heard that the shared language is a bar to harmony, because each side can fully understand the insults hurled about.

. said...

Nice OT, Ed, throwing in some Hillary-hatred for us all with the slenderest tie to the actual thread topic!

Croat555 said...

formerly gordon,

I have to apologize. It seems that I've been writing in Chinese. Well, sorry about that. ;)

You are right of course, mutually understandable languages are bar to total harmony. It is sad, really, when you think about it - blissful coexistence is only earplugs away.

;)

Ed Mahmoud said...

The Poster Formerly Known as Gordon said...
The comment about the Arabs sweeping "from nowhere" to destroy the Persian empire and greatly diminish the Greek empire reminds me of another group of austere Middle Eastern outsiders who swept aside a settled civilization "out of nowhere."

The Israelites (or "Hebrews," from an ancient Canaanite word meaning "outsider"). 13th century B.C.

The parallels are striking.




You're not really that stupid, are you?