News for today's 2018: 12/22/12

Babe of the Week: Lindsay Lohan

9:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />The combination of being in the Christmas spirit and a <strike>burning sensation when we pee</strike> desire to see all wrongs righted results in the staff of IWS Entertainment proudly announcing that our Babe of the Week is none other than Lindsay Lohan!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL-jY6V7j6sQG_wlg58R2Tjn4M8Xi59D1rhliJaGPfKWJ6jcb1vr6h8AvUYbWoSrNV3jgUTKH4TIWN6GkfDdIzkvPjlZumh3Kc-E1sSBKqmLkpFbxr92kBNGMnJLGIpPVD1wBW9ObIIQY/s1600/Lindsay+Lohan+Nude+Boobs+Drunk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL-jY6V7j6sQG_wlg58R2Tjn4M8Xi59D1rhliJaGPfKWJ6jcb1vr6h8AvUYbWoSrNV3jgUTKH4TIWN6GkfDdIzkvPjlZumh3Kc-E1sSBKqmLkpFbxr92kBNGMnJLGIpPVD1wBW9ObIIQY/s400/Lindsay+Lohan+Nude+Boobs+Drunk.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Can you believe Lindsay has never been our BotW? Crazy! Just look at her beauty!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikecJwvyejRMZAuujQzevz3GzZxpsfIlhsjqtMVj6NVW5jLSCyHHCdzjjqXOToN5ANzXl916k_7Y5jW6RUEraavPeRkSlb0WrXAUB5Rv1Ij_5o2N12a0VuLHrtOS8Da_KWbp1gFtblhc8/s1600/Lindsay+Lohan+Boobs+Cleavage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikecJwvyejRMZAuujQzevz3GzZxpsfIlhsjqtMVj6NVW5jLSCyHHCdzjjqXOToN5ANzXl916k_7Y5jW6RUEraavPeRkSlb0WrXAUB5Rv1Ij_5o2N12a0VuLHrtOS8Da_KWbp1gFtblhc8/s400/Lindsay+Lohan+Boobs+Cleavage.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br />Oh sure, Lindsay is a high-spirited girl who has had some trouble over the last couple of years, but she is still a total babe. Just look at her here! Eyes at half-mast as she lounges sexily by the pool in a comfortable stupor…<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJCPnIHCwlFslJdesA_U40IpbsPgfF6JIHJCDrt6iuKr98PdWRG37qARjahflWisVrz6r77C-dfsHNnjuTAAFPMLRrtYHaZYZ-Ehe47jFcjHEvyHHug56AbSiaxLiLB9ibyq4E75oflXs/s1600/Lindsay+Lohan+Feet+Drunk+Nude.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJCPnIHCwlFslJdesA_U40IpbsPgfF6JIHJCDrt6iuKr98PdWRG37qARjahflWisVrz6r77C-dfsHNnjuTAAFPMLRrtYHaZYZ-Ehe47jFcjHEvyHHug56AbSiaxLiLB9ibyq4E75oflXs/s400/Lindsay+Lohan+Feet+Drunk+Nude.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Or here, as she teases us making us think that we caught her in the act of undressing…<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOL9uozhchXi1Pn9tzwTVgNDraBWMD-KznbBvP2ISMEwhzzvP9xfGmpukwVZm2IC6QJJvuurCzuSId8hKimY6mVZELL8fvBoS_dOw8TBtzV2ubJlpKA7CusvCvRP1X9Eq4v_3zWMmYkis/s1600/Lindsay+Lohan+Naked+Ass+Legs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOL9uozhchXi1Pn9tzwTVgNDraBWMD-KznbBvP2ISMEwhzzvP9xfGmpukwVZm2IC6QJJvuurCzuSId8hKimY6mVZELL8fvBoS_dOw8TBtzV2ubJlpKA7CusvCvRP1X9Eq4v_3zWMmYkis/s400/Lindsay+Lohan+Naked+Ass+Legs.jpg" width="217" /></a></div><br />There is absolutely no doubt that Lindsay Lohan is EXACTLY the kind of babe that we here at IWS just love. I’m so glad we could correct this outrageous oversight and FINALLY name her our Babe of the Week! <br /><div><br /></div></div>

Babe of the Week: Lindsay Lohan

The combination of being in the Christmas spirit and a burning sensation when we pee desire to see all wrongs righted results in the staff ...

RUSSIAN FORCES TAKE SYRIAN CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS UNDER CONTROL

6:08 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSPmdZKgab7bbDr1Srvdyt7vdSZHHH-_sm7dJ-SX76DImLs5tGHHSMYyfvGwHO_iyUMKjkO9LTebeg4OU0siIKTBkSNUrGkFXUmczjwhDzjHauUQoESqWX28sPjaL3puN6iLkc6fTINz1m/s1600/2092728766.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSPmdZKgab7bbDr1Srvdyt7vdSZHHH-_sm7dJ-SX76DImLs5tGHHSMYyfvGwHO_iyUMKjkO9LTebeg4OU0siIKTBkSNUrGkFXUmczjwhDzjHauUQoESqWX28sPjaL3puN6iLkc6fTINz1m/s400/2092728766.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b>Alleged Syrian WMD storage site</b></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">RUSSIAN FORCES DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN REMOVING THE WMD OUT OF THE REACH OF JABHAT AL-NUSRA TERRORISTS.</span></b></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Via DEBKA<i>file</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i> </i> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The chemical warfare threat looming over SYRIA’S civil war and its neighbors has taken an epic turn with the announcement by RUSSIAN Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Saturday, Dec. 22, that “the SYRIAN government has “consolidated its chemical weapons in one or two locations amid a rebel onslaught and they are under control for the time being.”<br />He added that RUSSIA, “which has military advisers training SYRIA’S military, has kept close watch over its chemical arsenal.”<br /><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">debkafile’s military and intelligence sources report: The RUSSIAN foreign minister’s statement was a message to Washington that the transfer of SYRIA’S weapons of mass destruction to one or two protected sites was under RUSSIAN control. This had removed the danger of them falling into the hands of the al Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra ,which had come ominously close Friday, Dec. 21, when the Islamists spearheaded a SYRIAN rebel assault for the capture of the al-Safira military complex and Bashar Assad’s chemical and biological stores.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Lavrov did not go into detail about how this arsenal was removed and to which locations. But his reference to “RUSSIAN military advisers training SYRIA’S military” clearly indicated that RUSSIAN forces were directly involved in removing the WMD out of the reach of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists. His assertion, that they were “under control” indicated that RUSSIA was also involved in safeguarding them.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Reason for RUSSIA’S military intervention</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">: </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">THE PREVENTION OF WESTERN MILITARY INTERVENTION IN THE CIVIL WAR BEHIND THE FORCES DEDICATED TO THE REMOVAL OF BASHAR ASSAD</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">debkafile’s Moscow sources add: </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">RUSSIA’S military intervention in the SYRIAN civil war achieved four objectives:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">1.  The prevention of Western or ISRAEL military action for seizing control of SYRIA’S chemical and biological weapons arsenals;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">2.   The prevention of Western military intervention in the civil war behind the forces dedicated to the removal of Bashar Assad. The RUSSIAN military is now engaged in the dual mission of guarding his WMD arsenal and his regime;</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />3.  The RUSSIAN military presence in SYRIA delivers a heavy swipe to the rebels;</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />4.   RUSSIA’S intervention and military presence have laid the groundwork for Moscow and Washington to work out an accord that will bring SYRIA’S civil war to an end.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: blue;">debkafile SITREP Friday, Dec. 21</span>:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The SYRIAN Air Force is again firing Scud missiles, this time to stem the general offensive SYRIAN opposition forces, including jihadis, launched Friday, Dec. 21, to capture the SYRIAN army’s military-industrial complex at al Safira and the big chemical and biological weapons store adjoining the facility. It is there, that Scud D missiles stand ready for launching, loaded with chemical weapons.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLAxPZlJNjtH2q_yYoGgdx3RzfYaKavuPapJY9znAtVu6uYpP4vEn98Nt-FHqtgpi8kgFuoFtoAFdM7nCBgZHgxV0SEZoQxoSEvL21wdQ9BC-wPCPh6yZBA3w5_Xf6Z6q2cApzJ584lTD/s1600/Syria-chemical-400x256.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLAxPZlJNjtH2q_yYoGgdx3RzfYaKavuPapJY9znAtVu6uYpP4vEn98Nt-FHqtgpi8kgFuoFtoAFdM7nCBgZHgxV0SEZoQxoSEvL21wdQ9BC-wPCPh6yZBA3w5_Xf6Z6q2cApzJ584lTD/s320/Syria-chemical-400x256.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Rebel forces are converging on Al Safira from the east, the west and the south. Among them are brigades of the Jabhat al-Nusra which the US has designated part of al Qaeda in IRAQ.<br />debkafile military sources report extremely heavy fighting. The rebels have reached points 1-2 kilometers from the perimeter walls of the Al Safira chemical weapons stores and are being pounded by SYRIAN warplanes and assault helicopters as well as Scuds, in a desperate effort to halt their advance.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Success in seizing control of those stores would re-tilt the balance of the war in their favor and bring President Bashar Assad face to face with a decision on whether to broach the perilous dimension of chemical warfare on the rebels or even against NATO or US targets outside SYRIA.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />A prime factor in his decision would be the information received in Moscow and Tehran – and almost certainly passed on to the SYRIAN ruler – that taking part in the offensive are rebels who underwent training in recent weeks in northern JORDAN by US, CZECH and POLISH officers in tactics for seizing chemical or biological caches and dismantling them.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">RUSSIAN and IRANIAN intelligence watchers suspect that elements from all three armies as well as JORDAN are present in the rebel assault force, in order to be on the spot when the weapons of mass destruction are captured and appropriate them to forces under NATO command.  They must beat Jabhat al-Nusra’s fighting brigades to this target, although at this moment, the jihadis are ahead of the race.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />The battle for al Safira has brought US and NATO into direct intervention in SYRIAN hostilities. Western intelligence services estimate that even if Assad removed some of the banned weapons from this complex, large quantities remain and must be prevented from reaching the wrong hand</span>s.</span></div>

RUSSIAN FORCES TAKE SYRIAN CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS UNDER CONTROL

Alleged Syrian WMD storage site RUSSIAN FORCES DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN REMOVING THE WMD OUT OF THE REACH OF JABHAT AL-NUSRA TERRORISTS. Via DE...

Guns In America: The Spiritual Opportunity For Grace

4:56 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">The best way to invest the wave of mass murders we have experienced in recent years would be to repent from social violence. Reasonable regulation of firearms would be the most obvious pragmatic way to back off from our compulsive habit of violence. But gun reform is at once a far, far cry from enough on the one hand, and extraordinarily hard to achieve on the other. I have not read America & Its Guns: A Theological Expose by Jim Atwood and my theological hero Walter Brueggemann. I’ve only read Rick Barber’s review at <a href="http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=10140">http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=10140</a>; but I have just ordered the book and plan to read it soon. If we are going to think and act with wisdom we need to engage violence theologically. Isn’t that what the Cross compels us to do? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">At this initial stage, I am wondering if the very difficulty in even discussing guns rationally might be a point of entry into the theological challenge we must confront if we are going to take repentance deep enough to respond to all the bloodshed – not just Columbine, Virginia Tech, the Gabby Gifford shooting; the Colorado Theater Massacre, and Sandy Hook Elementary – but all the the one at a time killings and the 181 school shootings in America since Columbine. A reform that makes such killings less frequent is not an adequate answer. But maybe that’s where we have to begin.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Let’s start with the anti-gun folks. There is something oddly self-defeating in our way of challenging gun violence. It is as if we are more concerned with expressing a feeling and maintaining a moral stance than we are about saving lives. As part of that puritanical separatist sentiment, we do not take into account the people on the other side. We imagine them all to be dumb and violent. That is simply not true. I know any number of kind, decent folks, progressive on all manner of social issues, but they are pretty attached to their guns. In ways -- perhaps the ways I will discuss momentarily -- they feel violated or fear being violated by those who would deprive them of their weaponry. That feeling may or may not be reasonable, but it is real, and if we want to change our society, we have to start with what’s real – reasonable or not. To disregard the concerns of the gun owners is itself a kind of violence. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">One year my Diocese (not Nevada) devoted our Convention to gun violence. We passed a resolution forbidding Episcopalians from owning handguns and requiring all church members to hand over their guns to their priests. In Georgia! We lost a few members, but to my knowledge never collected a single handgun. What were we smoking?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Here’s what I mean by puritanical separatism: many Abolitionists opposed the Union war effort and all the political efforts of the 1840s and 50s to stop the spread of slavery. They were perfectly content to see the South go its own way. The Abolitionists would have abolished slavery in their nation without freeing a single slave. They would have accomplished nothing but to keep their own skirts clean. That is the kind of spirit among the anti-gun activists that will perpetuate the violence. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">The pro-gun folks are decidedly voicing something deep within the American identity. One pro-gun comment I read this week said, “I am an American. I will not give up the gun in my purse.” Her gun was part and parcel of being an American in her mind. That takes some unpacking. But it must not be dismissed. She is onto something. America has 5% of the world’s population, but we own 50% of the world’s guns. We have lots of guns and we use them. The U S per capita rate of gun deaths is about 20 times the average of other developed nations. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/14/chart-the-u-s-has-far-more-gun-related-killings-than-any-other-developed-country/">http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/14/chart-the-u-s-has-far-more-gun-related-killings-than-any-other-developed-country/</a>. No other developed nation has anything like our rate of gun deaths. Only Chile is even in the ballpark. To be fair, several undeveloped nations are worse. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate</a>. But the woman’s point is still fair. Owning and using lethal weapons is wired into our self-concept. I gather Atwood and Brueggemann help us understand how we came to identify with our guns.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">For now, I think of a line from a song written by a Nevada singer-songwriter. “Something to do with my pride. Something to do with my fear.” Let’s start with fear. Americans are afraid. We are very afraid. Many people carrying guns are afraid of the other people carrying guns. No surprise. Our crime rate is high. So some of that fear just makes sense.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">But I have personally observed that an extraordinary number of people who are not seriously at risk are just as afraid, often more afraid, than are the people who live and work in dangerous neighborhoods or have dangerous jobs. Maybe fear is contagious so we catch it from people who are afraid with good reason. But I am also intrigued by the argument of Lynn Serafinn in 7 Graces of Marketing. <a href="http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/tag/lynn-serafinn/">http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/tag/lynn-serafinn/</a>. She says that marketing strategies for the past several decades have used fear (including fear of scarcity), sex, and a kind of debased humor to sell, sell, sell. Those who are bombarded with this kind of marketing at the rate we Americans are, by her reasoning, are bound to be afraid. If I know Walter Brueggemann, I suspect he’ll make the same connection. We are, in short, afraid. And we have placed our trust not in God or in each other, but in our own access to lethal force. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Speaking of the lethal weapons of his day, the Psalmist wrote: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses; but we trust in the name of the Lord.” (Ps 27). When Judah turned to the death dealing power of Egypt for defense, Isaiah said, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">“Woe to them that go to Egypt for help, and trust in chariots and stay on horses for they are many; and in horsemen for they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel; nor do they seek the Lord. Because you have said ‘We have made a covenant with death, with Hades we have an agreement, . . . .’ I lay in Zion a foundation stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone . . . “ (Is. 28: 14-16) <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Our level of fear, though understandable, says something about our faith. Our trust is not in the foundation stone, the tried stone, the precious cornerstone. Instead when we say the answer to “a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” we have made a “covenant with death.” We trust our ability to invoke the death of another to save us from death. “Something to do with our fear.” “<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">But also “something to do with (our) pride.”  What constitutes human worth? What makes a person a hero? How do we establish our status? Is it who we are, what we have, or something we can do? Culture defines the criteria of human worth. In our culture, if a person can amass great wealth, he or she is worthy. Second, best is the ability to kill people. There is an axis of value here. There is a horizontal axis of good versus bad plus a vertical axis as pride versus shame. On the good versus bad axis, it matters who we kill – good to kill Osama bin Laden (not the Christian view – I’m talking about the cultural value), bad to kill innocent children. But on the pride versus shame axis, the thing is to be able to kill – anybody, preferably a lot of people. The strong person may refrain from killing, especially if restraint justifies him or her on the good-bad axis; but the ability to kill is what counts. Unless we are physically very formidable or have terrific martial arts skills, the best way to be lethal is to pack heat. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Where do I get the idea that our capacity to kill is a measure of our worth? What makes us a “great nation?” It isn’t our education system, which we don’t fund. Neither is it the purity of our democracy, which we spend a fortune to corrupt. It’s our ability to inflict shock and awe – impose our will by force. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Who are our movie heroes if not the rugged individuals who can dispatch large numbers of people in just a few minutes of screen time?  The ability to kill carries cred. It gets respect. If we aren’t rich and we can’t kill, what good are we?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">We have lost more people to gun deaths in the United States since 1968 than in all our wars. People in other developed nations, and even many undeveloped nations, think of us as “violent.” Why is that? “Something to do with our pride. Something to do with our fear.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">When puritanical separatism faces off against pride (more specifically its corollary of shame) and fear, there isn’t much space left in the room for reason. Reason would find the right tool for the right job. Because mass shootings account for a statistically insignificant percentage of total gun deaths, restricting the right to own semi-automatic weapons to law enforcement, the military, or others with some legitimate need to kill large numbers of people very fast will not actually have a major impact on the rate of gun deaths. But if we want to stop mass shootings, restricting the right to own semi-automatic weapons would save lives. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Requiring background checks to prevent criminals, terrorists, and dangerous mentally ill people from buying guns would not necessarily stop a random crazy person from getting a gun and committing mass murder. But it would reduce the number of individual gun deaths each year. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">We don’t have to repeal the 2<sup>nd</sup> amendment or ban all handguns to make a difference that would save lives. But it would take reasoned negotiations taking into account the concerns of both sides. The good thing about needing to come together is that in order to have reasoned negotiation; we must first engage the spiritual issues underlying our puritanical separatism, our pride, and our fear. What if in the course of discussing legislation there were actual conversions of heart? What if we turned to each other in God, found our worth in God’s eyes, entrusted our well-being to God? What if we actually beat our own weapons into plowshares, not because the other side forced us to do so, but because we as a culture redefined the measure of human worth in such a way that the ploughshare carried more respect than the weapon? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">I am not saying we need a change of heart instead of a change of law. But we cannot achieve a change of law without some change of heart; and if that change of heart just kept going, it would achieve more than legislation ever could. It might achieve something worthy of the blood that has been spilled.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

Guns In America: The Spiritual Opportunity For Grace

The best way to invest the wave of mass murders we have experienced in recent years would be to repent from social violence. Re...

EUROPE AND THE ARAB SPRING THAT NEVER SPRUNG

10:39 AM Tukiyooo 0

<br /> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg25uKx5iM9hC_BufOAClv8b9QSQSJv161oHXP6m2uIWdZTmg_wuVwcwC3nQD35dCVGHBdDpiKdJAu4cqy9iVa6-1sVqFXUiP3a7lmazzYdgl-jfi5UeM33nkbLHcnjP0AumJ2_kbD0Qo9I/s1600/bron3000l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg25uKx5iM9hC_BufOAClv8b9QSQSJv161oHXP6m2uIWdZTmg_wuVwcwC3nQD35dCVGHBdDpiKdJAu4cqy9iVa6-1sVqFXUiP3a7lmazzYdgl-jfi5UeM33nkbLHcnjP0AumJ2_kbD0Qo9I/s400/bron3000l.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> THERE ARE CURRENTLY 22 STATES IN THE WORLD WHICH EARN OVER 60% OF THEIR RESPECTIVE GDP FROM OIL (AND GAS), AND ARE RULED BY NON-DEMOCRATIC, AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">By correlating hydrocarbons with the present political and socio-economic landscape, scholar Larry Diamond revealed that there are currently 22 states in the world which earn over 60% of their respective GDP from oil (and gas), and are ruled by non-democratic, authoritarian regimes. All of them are characterized by disparity, steep socio-economic cleavages, sharp political inequalities and lasting exclusions, not to mention poor human rights records. These represent nearly half of the countries considered by the Freedom House’s annual reports as ‘not free’– the very same that are predominantly held accountable by the Western media for domestic and regional insurgences, intl. armed conflicts, famines as well as for harboring and financing terrorists. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">DEMOCRATIC RECESSION: 9 OF THE 11 TOP CRUDE EXPORTERS ARE LABELED AS DICTATORSHIPS</span></b></span></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">As for the fact that 9 of the 11 top crude exporters are usually labeled as dictatorships, Prof. Diamond calls this a ‘democratic recession.’ This all points to the fact that there is not a single economic or political indicator in the MENA (MIDDLE EAST – NORTH AFRICA) region that suggests any ‘Spring’ has occurred, just a severe and lasting recession.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCWXar1eGhmXuA5dHJbt0v-amTfSRBtwtVvUI2PlMr03K4QvtOlItTs6AAch0_MtKuyFQPjsWjqEVpnYMOsWXRvbtuYJ1oINPnA61wJ5_hjmEILSBQnlzkUALo6XG21B_enzioLrmVglIh/s1600/FreedomHouseReport2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCWXar1eGhmXuA5dHJbt0v-amTfSRBtwtVvUI2PlMr03K4QvtOlItTs6AAch0_MtKuyFQPjsWjqEVpnYMOsWXRvbtuYJ1oINPnA61wJ5_hjmEILSBQnlzkUALo6XG21B_enzioLrmVglIh/s400/FreedomHouseReport2012.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Indeed, modern history is full of examples where any given crude exporting countries’ development was hindered by huge revenues. Far too often, the petro-cash flow did not assist but delayed or derailed necessary economic diversification and political reform. Conveniently using revenues to buy and otherwise subsidize social peace, these regimes were actually creating a kind of self-entrapment in the form of an ever-stronger psychological and political dependence on hydrocarbons. Therefore, a real ‘Arab Spring,’ for the MIDDLE EAST and the rest of us, will only come after socio-economic decoupling and diversification, socio-political horizontalization; all grounded in a decisive departure from oil-dependence. By no means would it ever come by the purely cosmetic change of who resides in the presidential palace.   </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: blue;">SAUDIS ONLY REPRESENT 1.5% OF THE WORLD’S MUSLIMS, BUT FINANCIALLY CONTROL AROUND 90% OF THE ISLAMIC INSTITUTIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST</span><br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />Fearing leftist republican pan-arabism and nasserism, the us encouraged saudi arabia to sponsor the large network of madrasahs throughout the middle east – Prof. Cleveland reminds us in his capital work: A History of the Modern MIDDLE EAST. In the last three decades, this tiger became ‘too big to ride’, as Lawrence Wright points out in The Looming Tower. Wright states that while representing only 1.5% of the world’s Muslims, SAUDIS fund and essentially control around 90% of the Islamic institutions from the US to KAZAKHSTAN/Xinjiang and from NORWAY to AUSTRALIA.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4An2QSVMtB_CpZOKEBgn2CzPpKrJV4gzK0BaA5_CxIBvgSBMKzC8JW10rgVvdGYMmHNo4XEIv1N6sDKFZr2K3sMp5GGKiVYTbqkFi0DW2iDXGuVTxE06g9hXY0mYXsU30JxEAFENSa8lz/s1600/saudi1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4An2QSVMtB_CpZOKEBgn2CzPpKrJV4gzK0BaA5_CxIBvgSBMKzC8JW10rgVvdGYMmHNo4XEIv1N6sDKFZr2K3sMp5GGKiVYTbqkFi0DW2iDXGuVTxE06g9hXY0mYXsU30JxEAFENSa8lz/s200/saudi1.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">By insisting on oversimplified and rigid, sectarian Wahhabi-Salafist interpretations of religious texts, most of these institutions along with their indoctrinated clerics are in fact both corrupting and preventing an important inner debate about Islam and modernity.  Self-detained in denial limbo, they largely (and purposely) keep the Arab and non-Arab Muslim world in a dangerous confrontational course with both itself and the rest of the world.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Background Information:</span></u></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/saudi-arabia-origin-of-wahhabism.html"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/saudi-arabia-origin-of-wahhabism.html</span></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/05/turkey-shiite-persians-versus-wahhabi.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/05/turkey-shiite-persians-versus-wahhabi.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">To this end, there is a claim currently circulating the EU, both cynical and misleading: ‘multiculturalism is dead in EUROPE.’ Not entirely surprising, as the EU has silently handed over one of its most important debates – that of EUROPEAN identity – to the right wing-parties. The way to save EUROPE’S domestic cohesion and overall credibility within its strategic neighborhood lies in the reinvigoration of its ‘everything but institutions’ transformative powers, those that were stipulated in the Barcelona process of the EUROPEAN Neighborhood Policy as well as in the EURO-MED partnership (OSCE).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">EUROPE’S GEOPOLITICAL INDECISIVENESS, A HINDERING STONE TO PROSPERITY</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />Why is this the case?<br /><br />Young generations of EUROPEANS are taught in schools about a compact unity (singularity) of an entity called the EU. However, as soon as serious external or inner security challenges emerge, historic EUROPE resurfaces. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEKi8JNpQWcuP1RZC4SRiHfpHNgdCh9ewl6aR6ipj0Duh-u0nemwaKQffGvvTa-4k32QkthraXJasXP7qYK2uKWZ4GYedA15I89BrEDOoVCjUpwipUZR2WAb4QRf-raANGKd-OnIkxem-r/s1600/16042_THUMB_IPAD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEKi8JNpQWcuP1RZC4SRiHfpHNgdCh9ewl6aR6ipj0Duh-u0nemwaKQffGvvTa-4k32QkthraXJasXP7qYK2uKWZ4GYedA15I89BrEDOoVCjUpwipUZR2WAb4QRf-raANGKd-OnIkxem-r/s640/16042_THUMB_IPAD.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Center Right shift in Europe: Center Right Governments of Europe oppose  Multicultural Awareness </td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Formerly in ALGERIA, EGYPT and LEBANON, then in IRAQ (with the exception of FRANCE) and now with LIBYA and SYRIA and BOSNIA, Central Europe is hesitant to act, ATLANTIC EUROPE is eager, SCANDINAVIAN EUROPE is absent, EASTERN EUROPE is bandwagoning, and RUSSOPHONE EUROPE is opposing.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Background Information</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/08/bosnia-cursed-by-european-union-eu.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/08/bosnia-cursed-by-european-union-eu.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/bosnia-european-unions-stepchild.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/bosnia-european-unions-stepchild.html</a></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />The 1986 Reagan-led ANGLO-AMERICAN bombing of LIBYA was a one-time, head-hunting punitive action. This time, LIBYA (and currently SYRIA) has been given a different attachment: The considerable presence of CHINA in AFRICA; successful circumventing pipeline deals between RUSSIA and GERMANY (which will deprive EASTERN EUROPE from any transit-related bargaining premium, and will tacitly pose a joint RUSSO-GERMAN pressure on the BALTIC states, POLAND and UKRAINE); the boldness of IRAN; and finally the overthrows of the EU friendly, TUNISIAN, YEMENI and EGYPTIAN regimes –all combined– must have triggered alarm bells across ATLANTIC EUROPE. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Background Information:</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/09/chinas-winning-strategy-in-africa.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/09/chinas-winning-strategy-in-africa.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ISLAM THAT THE EU SUPPORTED IN THE MIDDLE EAST YESTERDAY IS THE SORT OF ISLAM THAT EUROPE GETS TODAY</span></b></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Thus, in response to the MENA crisis, the EU failed to keep up a broad, consolidated agenda in regards to its strategic neighborhood, even though it had the institutions, interest and credibility to do so. The only direct involvement of the continent ranged over dialog (instruments) and consensus (institutions).<br />between a diplomatic de-legitimization (by Goebbels-izing the media for it) and punitive military engagement via the ATLANTIC EUROPE-led coalition of the willing. Confrontational nostalgia prevailed again </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />The consequences are striking: The sort of Islam that the EU supported in the MIDDLE EAST yesterday is the sort of Islam that EUROPE gets today<span style="color: red;">. <b> </b></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: red;"><b>Small wonder that Islam in TURKEY (or in KYRGYZSTAN OR INDONESIA) is generally broad, liberal and tolerant while in NORTHERN EUROPE it can be brutally dismissive, narrow and vindictively assertive</b>.</span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By Anis Bajrektarevic via Geopoliticalmonitor </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

EUROPE AND THE ARAB SPRING THAT NEVER SPRUNG

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