Posted on 09/25/2006 5:22:07 AM PDT by RKV
Let me know if you want in or out.
Links: FR Index of his articles: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=victordavishanson
His website: http://victorhanson.com/ NRO archive: http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson-archive.asp
The term always worked for me.
Some friendly advice - adopt the combat mindset. Go on the offensive, do not just react. We need improve our ability to defend ourselves by improving our culture. We can all help that - speaking the truth about islamic imperialism is one way to start.
I prefer islamic imperialism myself, but islamofascism will do in a pinch.
Great article!
If they are so confident of a fulfulling future, why are they so quick to kill themselves?
Incidentally, I've been reading 'The Looming Tower', and a more unappealing group of total losers would be difficult to find. It turns out that bin Laden did essentially nothing in Afgahnistan against the Soviets, and nonetheless returned bragging that he could defend all of Saudi Arabia from the Iraqis, instead of inviting the Amerians in.
The Saudi intelligence head laughed him out of the room; thus his desire for revenge, against both the Saudi government and the Americans he felt were defiling the kingdom.
Tolik, could you add me to the VDH ping list, please?
Many thanks.
D
Third, while there is generic fascism, its variants naturally weave preexisting threads familiar to a culture at large. Hitler’s brand cribbed together notions of German will, Aryanism, and the cult of the Ubermensch from Hegel, Nietzsche, and Spengler, with ample Nordic folk romance found from Wagner to Tacitus’s Germania. Japanese militarism’s racist creed, fanaticism, and sense of historical destiny were a motley synthesis of Bushido, Zen and Shinto Buddhism, emperor worship, and past samurai legends. Mussolini’s fasces, and the idea of an indomitable Caesarian Duce (or Roman Dux), were a pathetic attempt to resurrect imperial Rome. So too Islamic fascism draws on the Koran, the career of Saladin, and the tracts of Nasserites, Baathists, and Muslim Brotherhood pamphleteers.
If I may suggest
Bolshevism in a Headdress
FrontPageMagazine ^ | 3/21/05 | Mustafa Akyol
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1373886/posts
And (one of the best books I've read on the subject)
Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies
by Ian Buruma, Avishai Margalit
http://www.amazon.com/Occidentalism-West-Eyes-Its-Enemies/dp/1594200084/sr=1-2/qid=1159188565/ref=sr_1_2/104-1207478-3799909?ie=UTF8&s=books
I'm only following the lead of our leaders in DC
If they are so confident of a fulfulling future, why are they so quick to kill themselves?
You'll recall in the Looming Tower the group of arab "fighters" in Afgahnistan camping with white tents, they're told to lose the white tents or they'll be killed. Their answer is "But we've come here to die." This says alot about the terrorists and why they will lose. (and YES, this is a must read for anyone who's serious about this war)
You know better than that.
islam doesn't worship the God I know, islam worships the devil.
Sorry VDH, it's not "fascism", it's just Islam at its core. "Isamic fascism" or "islamofascism" is just Rove-speak. Rather like when Pharma coined the term "erectile-dysfunction"--not used in any medical text--to sell various "love potions". My problme with VDH is his obsession with TR/Wilsonian style "big stick" diplomacy; America's "special place in the world" etc. This will bankrupt and destroy America; empires ALWAYS fall and every nation seduced by the siren of empire has collapsed sooner or later. The smart thing for America to do is revert to a pre-1898 foreign policy and bascially:
1. Tend to it's own knitting regarding foreign affairs; 19th century America did not care if the Ottoman Turks mistreated Greeks or Rumanians, if the Tsar of all the Russias mistreated the Finns or Tartars etcc.
2. Economic autarky should be pursued, although this would entail something Americans have never attempted--an industrial/economic policy. The USA is self-sufficent (or could become self-sufficent) in most items. Execptions being certain trace elements for aerospace and certain gems like diamonds, both easily obtained from nations in Africa in exchange for food. Notice I didn't mention energy in this small list of exceptions. The USA is the Saudi Arabia of coal; the Nazi's quite successfully maintained their vast war machine on petroleum synthesized from coal, no doubt the US could do the same. If, theoretically, every source (ANWR, all offshore areas) were drilled for oil, the US could survive with nary a drop of imported energy. Those crazy kids in Seattle had a point; globalism really is evil, and the outside (i.e OLD world) has been nothing but a source of grief for the New World.
You sound like a Buchananite to me. With respect to 19th century foreign policy you remember the shores of Tripoli? Perhaps you recall our war with Mexico? And speaking of "big stick," the Panama Canal was built on land that belonged to Columbia until we engineered a revolution. While I wouldn't call the policies that led to those engagements Wilsonian, your historical knowledge is sadly lacking. As to autarky - what set of unconstitutional laws are you going to advocate to make that happen? It won't occur any other way.
"With respect to 19th century foreign policy you remember the shores of Tripoli? Perhaps you recall our war with Mexico? "
The Barbary Pirates episode was the one sad exception; wealth US merchants didn't want to pay "protection" to the Barbary Pirates, so Steven Decatur was sent to sort them out. Actually, it was Napoleon who really spelled "finis" to the Barbary Pirates. As for Mexico, that was just part of America's Manifest Destiny to spread from coast to coast. As for the Panama Canal, it fell within the Monroe Doctrine (we didn't want France or some other Old World power controlling access between the Atlantic and Pacific in our backyard).
Pardon me for being blunt - screw waiting for a Churchill. My personal take is that we need to deserve victory. That starts with you and me making America strong enough for the task ahead. We need to reject the culture that the socialists have tried to create, and restore the values which we were founded on. I have a bunch more to say about this, but I think I'll save it for my book. ;>)
Economic autarky should be pursued, although this would entail something Americans have never attempted--an industrial/economic policy.
Right. You mean like NK? Ecomomic self sufficiency is one of those really wonderful ideas that exist only inside the ivy covered wall of academia.
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