Free from Terror
The Lebanese Political Journal asks:
Could it be the US' blind support of Israel?
Link
If al Qaeda truly wanted to make the world a better place for Muslims, the US would not be the first country they would attack. Muslims live incredibly free and profitable lives in the United States. And Muslims can be seen thriving in all areas of employment and life as shopkeepers, doctors, artists, and professors.
But in China, this is not the case. Muslims are horribly oppressed by the Chinese government.
The Chinese government is officially atheist and has no problem toppling every pillar of Islam. Chinese cuisine is packed with pork, and alcohol is a popular commodity (okay, that's not really a kep point). The Chinese government indirectly supports the genocide of Muslims in Darfur (albeit by other Muslims).
Could it be the US' blind support of Israel?
Link
posted by Brian at 2:33 PM
3 Comments:
Or it could be that China is an authoritarian regime that cracks down on any troublemakers with methods that would make us blush.
Apparently, there are reports today that there was a terror bombing on a bus in China, but the government controlled media isn't letting word get out.
US Support of Israel is the Gorilla in the Room
The Muslim minority in western China (the Uighurs) mostly live in Xinjiang Province. They speak a Turkic language and have strong ties to their Muslim coreligionists in the adjacent central Asia nations.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1748801.stm
The Chinese government is indeed authoritarian and readily cracks down on any "troublemakers," whether ethnic, religous or political. The Uighurs were once a majority in Xinjiang but are now a minority due to resettlement of ethnic majority Han Chinese there. Chinese rule is mightily resented by the Uighurs.
Muslims in the US do very well. They have complete freedom of religion and probably have higher per capita incomes than Muslims anywhere else in the world (that's why they come to the US). Also, the US has used considerable diplomatic and military muscle to ease the plight of Muslims in several spots (the Balkans, Sudan, Somalia).
None of this matters a bit to Osama and his terrorist friends. Their complaints against the US center around 1) US support for Israel, which bashes its mostly Muslim neighbors, 2) US invasions of Muslim lands (Iraq), 3) US support for "corrupt" regimes in Muslim countries (Egypt, Saudia Arabia, Algeria, maybe some others), and 4) the presence of "infidels" on the "holy soil" of Saudi Arabia. They also don't like the penetration of "degenerate" Western culture into Muslim lands, but they're probably smart enough to know that this would not be occuring if the locals didn't want it.
Of course, there's lots of hypocrisy and selective indignation here. US actions in defense of Muslims around the world are ignored, as is the high standard of living of Muslims in the US. Brutal acts of repression against Muslims by secular (Algeria, Sudan), religous (Iran, Saudia Arabia) or atheistic (China) regimes are largely overlooked. Saddam Hussein's crimes against his own people and his invasion of peaceful Muslim neighbor Kuwait never excited much concern. Nor did the Iran-Iraq war twenty years ago, when thousands of Muslims on both sides were mowed down in human-wave assaults.
All that having been said, what's the best policy for the US? How about letting the Middle East stew in its own juice? Why should we care? Every US president since Harry Truman has come up with a "peace plan" for this area, and every one has failed. And as a result, the Israelis manipulate us and the Muslims hate us. If the Iranians want to install some loony theocratic regime, why is it our concern? If a brutal tyrant such as Saddam Hussein wants to smash hundreds of thousands of his own faithful subjects, too bad, but not our business. If two Muslim nations want to go to war and send thousands of their own citizens on a quick trip to Allah in human wave assaults, why should we care? If the Israelis and Palestinians prefer murdering each other to making peace, let them have a go at it. The best thing the US could do for itself and the Middle East is to pull out totally.
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