There is so much news tonight, and so many things are going on, it’s hard to know where to start.The biggest news concerns the financial crisis — check out how many articles there are about it. Most of it concerns the situation in Europe, which is accelerating into the danger zone very quickly. Germany is reluctant to bail out Greece, despite the pressure from the IMF and other European countries. The majority of Germans are opposed to rescuing Greece. Portugal’s condition is approaching that of Greece, and now Spain’s bonds have been downgraded to AA by Standard & Poor. Global stock markets dropped by 2% as the likelihood of a Greek default sank in.
In other news, a video of Zachary Chesser, the young man who threatened the creators of South Park, has surfaced. It was taken at a pro-Hamas rally in D.C. in late 2008. Mr. Chesser’s Arabic name is “Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee”, which is Arabic for… Heck, this is a family site — follow the link to find out what his name allegedly means!
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Gaia, Henrik, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, JD, REP, Steen, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.
Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.
[This post is a stub — nothing further here!]
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How to Become a Real Muslim
“The key question”, the French sociologist Olivier Roy points out, “is not what the Koran actually says, but what Muslims say the Qur’an says.” Muslims continually disagree on what the Qur’an says, he adds dryly, “while all stressing that the Koran is unambiguous and clear-cut.” [emphasis added]
Once again, it is long past tea for Western culture to arrive at its own definition of Islam. Muslims will continue to interpret the Qur’an in any way they see fit so long as it advances whatever cause du jour they have at the moment.
As Robert Marchenoir noted in GoV’s “The Circumstances of Our Oppression” thread:
"Islam" does not exist. Unless your aim is to entertain a purely academic debate with no practical implications, "Islam" actually means what real Muslims think and do. [emphasis added]
If − as they truly do and always have − actions speak louder than words, then Islam is about terrorism. The thundering silence of any Muslim unanimity against terrorism means that, for all intents and purposes, opposition to these constant atrocities is totally nonexistent.
Muslims will continue to slaughter each other with an abandon equal or greater to the lack of restraint they demonstrate in killing non-believers as well. Islam must be defined by the words and deeds of Muslims themselves with total disregard for anything but the doctrinal hatred that drives those actions. The uniquely Islamic law of abrogation must be applied, not just to Qur’anic texts, but also to what Muslims say. Continuing tacit support for terrorism by a majority of Muslims must trump all of the ostensible disclaimers that whatever minority of them presents against it.
This is why it is so important for the West to arrive at its own interpretation of Islam. The sheer existence of Islamic practices like kitman and taqiyya prohibit allowing Muslims to provide their own definitions for us. A rational policy of response depends entirely upon it being clearly understood that Muslims accept how the Qur’an declares unending war upon all unbelievers.
Once that unending war is accepted as a given, only then will it become apparent that our sole reply must be a response-in-kind. This is not an argument for “measured response” but, instead, an equally unending war against Islam just like what it has declared upon us.
If Islamic terrorism is met with only a similar degree of violence, it will not adequately inspire Muslims to reconsider the wisdom of their support for such random violence. Each jihadist atrocity must elicit an overwhelmingly disproportionate response. Each one so devastating as to call into question whether Islam’s continued existence can survive any further support for terrorism.
The key to ending this conflict is escalating it to a similarly existential level that already exists within Muslim minds per their own avowed destruction of the West. Reformation will happen only when Islam's continued survival is placed in doubt. Either that becomes the tipping point for Muslims to permanently reject jihad or it necessarily must be the decisive moment when Islam is finally eradicated from this earth.
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