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Moral Atomic Bomb
Wall Street Journal ^ | 2/9/06 | Bernard-Henri Levy

Posted on 02/09/2006 1:27:39 PM PST by dervish

...it is hard not to see that insidious forces have brought these drawings to the attention of the Muslim masses... this calculated offense (calculated, mind you, by the organizers of the distribution of the cartoons), it is hard not to link this blasphemy to a new planetary configuration, itself determined by three recent and major events.

The diversionary tactic of a Syria which we never saw so concerned over religious matters...

'snip'

The hardening of Iran's Islamic Republic, ready to make all kinds of theological concessions (including a grand historic alliance of Shiites and Sunnis, which experts have been telling us for decades would be against nature)

'snip'

And then this tragedy in the Palestinian territories of the victory of an ideology whose themes (the call, based on the denial of the Holocaust, for the pure and simple destruction of Israel and the Jews) had up to now been in power only in openly dictatorial, sometimes even crypto-fascist, states.

'snip'

These three events are linked as a triangle. There is between these three poles a veritable triangle of death, which is in the process of locking into place thanks to the cartoons affair -- and which, if it is successfully welded together, will produce not just symbolic heat, but, with an Iranian bomb, a fissile heat unlike anything we saw in the good old axis of evil.

And, faced with this triangulation in progress, faced with this formidable hate-and-death machine, faced with this "moral atomic bomb," we have no other solution than to counter with another triangle -- a triangle of life and reason, which more than ever must unite the United States, Europe and Israel in a rejection of any clash of civilizations of the kind desired by the extremists of the Arab-Muslim world and by them alone.

'snip'

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bernardhenrilevy; bhl; cartoon; cartoonjihad; cartoons; cartoonwars; clashofcivilizations; danish; europe; hamas; iran; islam; israel; muslims; syria
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1 posted on 02/09/2006 1:27:40 PM PST by dervish
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To: SJackson; Alouette

moral clarity ping.


2 posted on 02/09/2006 1:30:43 PM PST by dervish (Go New York Sun!)
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To: dervish

ping for later read. interesting.


3 posted on 02/09/2006 1:38:37 PM PST by WOSG
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To: dervish
faced with this "moral atomic bomb," we have no other solution than to counter with another triangle

And if that triangle doesn't work out, we can always use a REAL atomic bomb . . .
4 posted on 02/09/2006 1:45:51 PM PST by horse_doc
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To: dervish
"There is between these three poles a veritable triangle of death,

A clear demonstration of the true nature of the Islamic Cult of Death.

5 posted on 02/09/2006 1:49:26 PM PST by TheClintons-STILLAnti-American (Keep the adults in charge of Congress.)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel.

..................

6 posted on 02/09/2006 1:52:20 PM PST by SJackson ("Bin Laden our beloved, Denmark must be blown up," protesters in Ramallah)
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Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: jan in Colorado

ping


8 posted on 02/09/2006 2:08:34 PM PST by Gondring (I'll give up my right to die when hell freezes over my dead body!)
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To: dervish
...we have no other solution than to counter with another triangle -- a triangle of life and reason, which more than ever must unite the United States, Europe and Israel in a rejection of any clash of civilizations of the kind desired by the extremists of the Arab-Muslim world and by them alone.

While I share the author's concern over the way the Arab/Moslem nutjobs are pushing the world of late, I cannot disagree more that the civilized world should reject "any clash of civilizations of the kind desired...". Why? Because if one side declares war and starts fighting, and the other says "I don't want to fight and won't do it" then the passive side loses, big time (especially with nukes in the equation.

Sometimes war is forced on a country or group of countries, and if they wish to survive then they must not only fight back, but must fight better so as to emerge victorious. The Arabs/Moslems seem intent on a clash of civilizations the likes of which haven't been seen since WW2. We had better react, and do so powerfully and quickly, or we will perish.

9 posted on 02/09/2006 2:09:08 PM PST by Ancesthntr
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To: horse_doc

This unfortunately is what will be needed. It is the only thing they will understand. Worked on the japs. It will work here.


10 posted on 02/09/2006 2:20:57 PM PST by refermech
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To: Ancesthntr
The Arabs/Muslims seem intent on a clash of civilizations the likes of which haven't been seen since WW2. We had better react, and do so powerfully and quickly, or we will perish.

Yes it is a "clash of civilizations".

But to defeat a civilization is not something the military isn't proficient at.

It will take more then bombs and troops. You're trying to defeat an idea. Not easy. And our cherished free and reckless speech is not moving us forward.

11 posted on 02/09/2006 2:24:45 PM PST by Donald Rumsfeld Fan ("fake but accurate": NY Times)
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To: Donald Rumsfeld Fan

"And our cherished free and reckless speech is not moving us forward."

Our speech, even the cartoons which you are calling reckless, would take us forward just fine if the West did as Levy suggested -- support the press without apologizing for what is not under government control:

"The affirmation of the press's right to the expression of idiocies of its choosing -- rather than the acts of repentance that too many leaders have resorted to, and which merely encourages in the Arab street the false and counterproductive illusion that a democratic state may exert power over its press."


12 posted on 02/09/2006 2:33:43 PM PST by dervish (Go New York Sun!)
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To: dervish
"a triangle of life and reason,"

Hey, what gives?

Our triangle has only two sides!

13 posted on 02/09/2006 2:33:53 PM PST by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: TheClintons-STILLAnti-American
"A clear demonstration of the true nature of the Islamic Cult of Death."

So the liberals have a culture of death because they support abortion and homosexuality and low-birth rates and mindless materialism.

And now according to you the Muslims have a cult of death even though they oppose abortion, oppose homosexuality, support high birth rates and are anything but mindlessly materialistic.

I think you need to work some more on your sloganeering.

14 posted on 02/09/2006 2:36:18 PM PST by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: dervish

An observation : If an islamic person was truly convinced that mohammed was a prophet of GOD, the cartoons would be meaningless drivel; if that person wasn't REALLY convinced that mohammed was divine then those cartoons hit a raw nerve of TRUTH, and he starts rioting, burning...


15 posted on 02/09/2006 2:37:59 PM PST by timer
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To: Alexander Rubin; An American In Dairyland; Antoninus; Aquinasfan; BIRDS; BlackElk; BlessedBeGod; ...
MORAL ABSOLUTES Ping.

DISCUSSION ABOUT:

"MORAL ATOMIC BOMB"

The significant explosion that is the Islamic vs. Everyone Else concept of moral reasoning.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To be included in or removed from the MORAL ABSOLUTES PINGLIST, please FreepMail either MillerCreek or wagglebee.

16 posted on 02/09/2006 2:46:59 PM PST by MillerCreek
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To: Donald Rumsfeld Fan
But to defeat a civilization is not something the military isn't proficient at.

In almost every case I would agree. But Islam has an Achilles heel, in the cities of Mecca and Medina. If they were to vanish, Islam would be crippled, and would shrivel up.

There is one very good historical precedent - in the 7th Century, when Byzantium was almost exterminated by the Zoroastran Sassanid Empire, the emperor Heraclius took his last army and did something new - he unexpectedly attacked the holy city of the Sassanids, sacked it, extinguished their "eternal flame", and filled their sacred lake with dead animals.

The shock was absolute - the Sassanids, on the brink of snuffing out Christianity, lost the moral will to govern. Zoroastranism is now a trivia question.

A religion that venerates a central piece of real estate has a fatal vulnerability. When that central spot is taken and desecrated, all bets are off.
17 posted on 02/09/2006 2:51:24 PM PST by horse_doc
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To: Donald Rumsfeld Fan
It will take more then bombs and troops. You're trying to defeat an idea.

This will sound like a joke, but it's not. I honestly wonder, if the crap hits the fan, if we would just drop the discardings from the nearest pork processing plant on Mecca, what would happen? I know there would be the initial outcry,etc., but in the long run, wouldn't it prove to these nuts that their religion is false? Maybe then they would get a grip on reality, without the massive loss of life that nukes would cause.

18 posted on 02/09/2006 2:59:39 PM PST by badbass
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To: horse_doc
The shock was absolute - the Sassanids, on the brink of snuffing out Christianity, lost the moral will to govern. Zoroastranism is now a trivia question.

You are correct. The way to approach this war is to look back at history. This is nothing new.

The first step would require an admission from our "intellectuals" that we are in a war between civilizations/religions. And to conduct it along those lines.

The PC and multi-culti crap should be tossed onto the dung heap of history.

19 posted on 02/09/2006 3:01:55 PM PST by Donald Rumsfeld Fan ("fake but accurate": NY Times)
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To: horse_doc
A religion that venerates a central piece of real estate has a fatal vulnerability. When that central spot is taken and desecrated, all bets are off.

Great minds think alike,lol.

20 posted on 02/09/2006 3:04:26 PM PST by badbass
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