January 29, 2007
THE FRUIT OF OUR DESTABILIZATION:
Saudi king invites Palestinian factions to talks (Greg Myre, January 28, 2007, International Herald Tribune)
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia called Sunday on the rival Palestinian factions to hold emergency talks in the holy city of Mecca in the latest bid to halt some of the worst ever Palestinian internal fighting.As the two main factions, Hamas and Fatah, waged a fourth straight day of fighting in the Gaza Strip, leaders from both groups said they would take up the invitation by the Saudi monarch, though no date was set. [...]
Saudi Arabia does not have a tradition of such direct involvement in Palestinian affairs. But as one of the most important figures in the Arab world the king, by his decision to hold the talks in Mecca, could increase the pressure on the Palestinian leaders to find a compromise.
It is the traditions of the Middle East that we went there to chuck in the wastebin of History. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 29, 2007 8:50 AM
They're hanging separately and I prefer it that way.
Posted by: Sandy P at January 29, 2007 9:56 AMSandy: Rodger.
Oj: Also rodger. Only it is not we who are chucking Islam into the wastbin of history; it has chukked itself into the wastebin of history, is where it belongs, having committed the evolutionary crime of failing to adapt. The institutional model you describe is a defective one. It does not provide a framework for law and order, jsut more and more chaos. Confused enemies, don't you know?
The spiritual jailhouse, to keep itself in existence in the face of the environmental stress of history, has responded by becoming more and more rigid. They are most literally xenophobic, afraid of the other.
Poor babies, we made them this way, we were the environmental pressure which made them draw in on themselves. True, but also irrelevant.
Posted by: Lou Gots at January 29, 2007 12:37 PMThe Sa'uds have nothing to do with Islam.
Posted by: oj at January 29, 2007 2:58 PMOne of these days we will see a comment or rejoinder like this: "Islam has nothing to do with Islam".
The Saudis have turned Mecca into their private theme park. They justify their rule by their stewardship of the city. Their 'relationship' with the Wahabbis gave them legitimacy as the chosen clan.
The King is nervous because if the Palis keep fighting each other and a full-blown civil war starts, all the time and money the Arabs have put into making the Palis both proxies and victims will wash away. If the Saudis really want peace, then they can move to the head of the line and talk directly with Israel. Fat chance of that.
Posted by: ratbert at January 29, 2007 4:14 PMYes, they're a royal family who used the cult of Wahhabism for personal gain, but they lost control of it.
Posted by: oj at January 29, 2007 4:41 PMThe Middle East needs less Mohammad and more Milton Friedman. Too bad their traditions are now seemingly inextricably linked with that same religious law that OJ says they should be following more closely. How do they chuck one without the other?
Lou: Yup.
Posted by: PapayaSF at January 30, 2007 12:01 AMThe Middle East needs less Mohammad and more Milton Friedman. Too bad their traditions are now seemingly inextricably linked with that same religious law that OJ says they should be following more closely. How do they chuck one without the other?
Lou: Yup.
Posted by: PapayaSF at January 30, 2007 12:03 AMThey just do what we did, recognize that while the law must be rigorously and universally applied to personal behavior the human dignity that God endows us with requires that we be allowed a fair bit of political and economic latitude. Democracy and capitalism are required by the fact of Creation.
Posted by: oj at January 30, 2007 7:24 AM