The Muslim threat is greatly over-rated

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Dec 31, 2015 at 19:25

Hi, Tovey

You referred to the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973, shortly after the Yom Kippur war, and the defeat of Egypt and Syria by Israel. The US quit Vietnam a couple of months later; so this was a time when our foreign policy started refocusing from the anti-Communist war (largely in Asia) and the Middle East. In 1979, the Shah got booted out of power and our embassy was attacked in Iran. That was our introduction to war with Islam. Around then, the Soviets attacked Afghanistan; and the Anti-Communist War (Cold War) got mingled with the Anti-Islami War. We backed the Muslims in that war, against the Soviets. The Soviet Union fell around 1990, and our Islamic allySaddam Hussein turned on us, invading Kuwait.

The crossover point between fighting the Communists in Asia and fighting the Muslims in the Middle East (and in America) was thus between 1979 and 1990, essentially during the Reagan years. That is why I look at the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 as a signature moment in history. It can be said that Chernobyl, which means "wormwood", not Ronald Reagan, actually brought down the Soviet Union. I remember that time: The Soviets were begging the Americans to send nuclear experts to help them, because it was bigger than anything they could handle. That was the year that Russian weakness was splashed across the headlines in the US, in the USSR, and in the whole world. It was the beginning of the end. In my reckoning, the "great mountain that fell from the sky" wasn't the top of the reactor complex, blown skyward from the steam explosion; it was the Soviet Empire, the rider of the "Red" horse -- for those who hold to such things, of course; to the rest this is just nonesence. We'll see.

1973 was the year the Henry Kissinger dallied, on purpose, while Israel burned. He wanted Israel to get hurt in that war -- hurt so much, he thought, that they would come begging to the peace table. How that man misunderstood the Jewish people! and how he misunderstood Richard Nixon -- who overruled Kissinger and rushed needed arms and equipment to Israel. I don't think it's entirely fanciful, to suppose that our defeat in Vietnam was a consequense from heaven of our turning on God's anointed. The oil embargo disrupted the world economy, as you say -- at a time when we were already in stagnation. Add to this the fall of Saigon (and simultaneously Laos, Cambodia, Angola, Mozambique and Nicaragua), the Iran Hostage Crisis, and our defeat by Hizbullah in Beirut, and the US was in sad shape.

In my mind, the "Black Horse" had arrived, scales in the hand of its rider. We are now living in the time of the Super, super, super rich; and of the gradual disappearance of the middle class. After beating Saddam in Iraq, President George HW Bush's approval rating soared to an amazing 80%; but just over a year later, he lost the election after only one term in office. The reason? "The Economy, Stupid", to quote an expression that Bill Clinton kept reminding himself of during the campaign. The economy -- during the longest run-up of the DOW industrials in history. Why was that? Because the DOW reflected the situation of the wealthy; but the election expressed the growing misery of the masses.

What has been the bloodiest war since 1986? Iraq? No. Afghanistan? No. the ISIS war? No. The bloodiest war of these past 30 years was the Rwandan Genocide, and the ensuing Congo Wars. And more deadly than those wars was the AIDS epidemic and, if you're a Pro-LIfer, the Abortion epidemic. These are things that don't grab the headlines very often.

I think we've become fixated on the Muslims. There is much, much more happening in the world. AIDS continues to spread. Ebola nearly turned into a worldwide pandemic. Russia and China are challenging the US militarily; and there has already been a serious incident between Russia and NATO. Those are non-Islamic issues. And the Iranian nuclear problem? In the big scheme of things, it's only one element of the looming, extremely dangerous issue of nuclear proliferation. North Korea is non-Islamic; so is Japan, which is already at the "breakaway point" we so fear will happen in Iran. Egypt is getting reactors; so are South Korea, Taiwan, the UAE, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Finland, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Belarus, Poland, Jordan, former nuclear state Kazakhstan, Turkey and Vietnam.

Underneath all this, as if the above weren't disturbing enough, technology is advancing out of control, to the point that humans are literally turning into cyborgs. At the same time, the super-rich, who coincidentally are heavily identified with modern technology, are gaining control over sovereign states not just by buying elections and bribing parliamentarians; but also through binding treaties such as TPP and TTIP. None of this involves Muslims to a significant degree..

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