Yeah, because asking a question is totally random and in no way suggesting what you are thinking. Spare me the condescension, especially with such a ham handed, transparent effort. Also,I could have mentioned previously that an authoritarian ruler clamped down on everything. I could've mentioned this. Plus, it's a much different deal with the post French colonial rule in that they delivered self-rule for that area for the first time in centuries and the wide variety of groups within that designated region now had to fight amongst themselves for control.
Not really. I was just reflecting upon the question at hand and how they fit into the discussion historically.
Guys is doesn't matter exactly HOW all this started or who or what is at fault. The PROBLEM is that a group of people are killing indscremently. Do you sit back and hope they stop or do you make them stop?
I think what happened 100 years ago after WWI, while surely one of the many causes to today's problems, is not something that needs focusing on. I imagine if the Ottoman empire fell apart all on it's own we would still have these issues, much like what happened in the Balkans after the fall of the USSR. How we fix it, as a planet, that is the issue. And as always, it will eventually have to come from within the Middle Eastern peoples, and them saying "enough is enough". While 500 French were hurt or killed on Friday, that is a drop in the bucket compared to what they are doing to each other throughout the ME. Their own ignorance and prejudices will have to be conquered internally, or we will have to a) wall off that whole part of the world and ignore what is going on inside or b) bomb the hell out of them. Both options are bad, as far as human life goes. Sad all around.
Make them stop how?? By killing them? Up to now, that has been a losing proposition. Sort of like spending your way into prosperity....
I might buy this if there weren't terrorist actions in other places around the world that people didn't give a shit about, like Lebanon or Kenya. Anyone see the Kenyan flag lit up around the world when 147 Kenyans were massacred by Islamic terrorists earlier this year?
The only way I see that is even remotely viable is to cut off their money supply. Develop domestic oil supplies and if we are going to attack militarily, attack their oil fields and delivery methods (ie ships/trucks etc.). When they can't pay their bills or feed themselves, spreading their religion will seem a lot less important to them.
Meaning, they are western European, so we care more. I might buy the cultural connections for us, but the world wide sympathy for the French tells us that the world values certain groups of people more than others.
Human condition, Uni. Man is shot in New York, I say "man, that sucks." My next door neighbor gets shot, I mourn and weep and go to the funeral and eulogize. Is it right? Maybe not, perhaps we should mourn and weep for all unnecessary death and murder. But we have evolved to worry about my tribe a lot more than your tribe. So it is hard. You have to work at feeling that kind of empathy and compassion for 7.5 billion other humans. So, when some Kenyans are slaughtered, it might make the news, and I will feel sad. But the French get attacked, that is an ally, a friend of 240 years, who helped found our great nation. Also, a fellow democratic and Western/Hellenistic-Romantic country. We feel close to them. Which way of looking at the world is better, I leave up to the individual.
Now that is an interesting thought. I know all of the Western powers were flying the Blue, White and Red. I have not followed it enough to know if they were flying those colors in Kenya, China, Brazil, or India. I will say my earlier answer was looking at it from an American point of view.
I don't care. I don't like wanton murder in any instance, but don't care any more than I do for any murder news story. Again, if it's an ongoing threat to America, her interests or to people I care for, it isn't worth our risking US service member lives or spending US tax dollars on. If it's helping Euros, who have spent the past 75 years allowing us to shoulder its defense costs, screw em.
I think that ISIS is unique among the type of terrorist groups we face in that they are more willing to confront regular armies in a traditional sense, as it fits in with their millenarian mindset. They are true believers to the extreme and want an end times battle extravaganza. In that sense, they could play into our hands much better than the ghostly guerilla and stateless groups like al-Qaeda. One can hope, but there's a really good article in the Atlantic on this. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/03/what-isis-really-wants/384980/
