Why Pakistani liberals will always fail

X.T.M 路 November 3, 2018 路 65 comments

I wrote a longish post on Aasia Bibi which I summarily deleted.

Pakistani liberals are a toothless lot because they dare not challenge the best itself, Islam. There is no peaceful Islam, like any other man-made ideology it becomes cancerous when not checked.

One could accuse me of hypocrisy because I’m a Bahai. However it so happens that my religious body isn’t sanction death sentences on innocent women. If it did I would be equally scathing.

Unless Muslims stand up, attack Islam and have the freedom to call Mohammad a pedophile (whether he was one or both) in central square Mecca without any fears of retribution from either State or individuals, there can be no respite in the taming of Islam.

The Tory Party and Republicans instinctively understand this which is why all Hindus, Sikhs & non-Muslims familiar with Islam must vote with the Right.

I am very upset about the Aasia Bibi case and I find the response of Pakistanis of it to be simply bullshit. Shame on them and shame on Pakistan and shame on me.

Pakistan’s Hybrid Government and the Aasia Bibi Fiasco..

Omar Ali 路 November 2, 2018 路 25 comments

Aasia bibi is a poor Christian woman from a village in Punjab who was arrested for blasphemy in 2009. She got into an argument with some other women from the village while working in the fields (purportedly over her drinking from a cup of water and hence “polluting” it) and in the course of the argument she allegedly said something聽 “blasphemous” about the holy prophet of Islam. The details of the case are murky and no one seems to know for sure what blasphemous statement she actually made that day (the most commonly reported one is that she said something along the lines of “Jesus died for the sins of the world, what has your prophet done for humanity”; other versions exist; the investigating police officer claims that she said much more, but even quoting it wud be blasphemy, so look it up on wikipedia) but whatever the details, a case was registered under Pakistan’s uniquely harsh blasphemy law (a death sentence is mandatory in case guilt is proven) and she has been in prison ever since.

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As usually happens in blasphemy cases, she was sentenced to death by the local court (local judges usually feel it safest to convict any and all accused blasphemers, expecting that the most egregiously wrong verdicts will be reversed by higher courts that have better security). Meanwhile her case had come to national attention and the governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, visited her in prison and spoke of her getting a presidential pardon. He was attacked in the media as a supporter of blasphemers and one of his own body guards shot him dead. The body guard was arrested and eventually hanged, but his grave has become a religious shrine and several ministers (including some in the current Imran Khan government as well as the opposition PMLN) have visited the grave to pay respects to this “hero”. Continue reading Pakistan’s Hybrid Government and the Aasia Bibi Fiasco..

Why do nonmuslims treat muslims so badly (e)?

AnAn 路 November 2, 2018 路 Comments Off on Why do nonmuslims treat muslims so badly (e)?

This is a follow up to:

The video of聽ISNA’s聽recently held meeting in Houston interviews many muslims supportive of, respectful of or interested in dialogue with atheist muslims and ex muslims. An accelerating trend among muslims who live in North America, India, South East Asia and Australasia.

Sadly many nonmuslims [anecdotally almost all caucasian] are interviewed who are deeply hostile to atheist muslims and ex muslims. The ex muslims are kicked out of Starbucks. The extent of hostility on the part of nonmuslims is hard to understand. Sadly this attitude of backing extremist Islamist or Jihadi muslims against reasonable muslims and reasonable people of muslim heritage is a serious “THING” among the world’s 6 billion nonmuslims. In this next clip Armin–protector of the Arya peoples–tries to engage in dialogue with many different hostile nonmuslims. Mostly unsuccessfully. Even atheist nonmuslims engage in xenophobic personal attacks against ex muslims and atheist muslims:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYhCm2sz-e0

Nonmuslims are also demonizing a moderate muslim, the fabulous Wajahat Ali:

Mr. Subramanian Swamy is one of the few prominent global nonmuslims who publicly acknowledges that moderate muslims are afraid of getting killed if they publicly critique extremists. Nonmuslims need to stand by moderate muslims and protect them from extremist muslims. So far Hindus (including Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs), Taoists, Christians, Jews, atheists and post modernists have been during a terrible job at it.

Continue reading Why do nonmuslims treat muslims so badly (e)?

Racing ahead..

X.T.M 路 October 31, 2018 路 7 comments

https://www.facebook.com/1534271790187013/posts/2206521042962081/

I have many swirling thoughts I want to write on but little time to write on them.

However the above graph is mesmerising to watch as they’ve cleverly made it into a race track competition. The story of China, Japan, US and Germany are the ones to watch.

It would have perhaps been better to aggregate the EU as a singular entity to give a better perspective on its relative size & importance.

Muslims have always known how weird Saudi Arabia is

Razib Khan 路 October 29, 2018 路 35 comments

I’m not a big fan of Hasan Minhaj’s “Millennial smug” style of comedy. What it really reminds me is Brad Stine’s “Christian comedy.” It’s aimed toward ingroups and comes off as tone-deaf and stupid to outgroups. So you know what you’re getting into.

That being said, as someone who is Muslim Minhaj has always “gotten” the issue with Saudi Arabia. Most Muslims I have known, from very conservative Salafi types to irreligious cultural varieties, have strange and strong attitudes toward Saudi Arabia. Even the most conservative often have mixed attitudes, because Saudi Arabia may sponsor Salafism worldwide, but no one can deny that the ruling family are hypocrites in their private practice.

Believing Muslims though have to admit that the Saudis are currently the guardians of Islam’s holy sites, and, the kingdom provides a great deal of money for various Muslim causes as well as Muslims more generally. And of course, Saudi Arabia has been a source of employment for many Muslims from outside the kingdom for many decades.

The fact that we are “having a discussion” about Saudi Arabia as if there is a discussion to have is a testament to the power of money in public discourse, and how one can buy elite complicity.

Great job to India

X.T.M 路 October 27, 2018 路 5 comments

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/oct/26/india-state-schools-revitalised-training-scheme-for-headteachers

I’m of the belief that Leadership drives everything. There is of course historical trends because of geography and deep-set cultural patterns however organisational and national success is often reliant on getting the best to the top.

At the end of Ancien Regime in Europe it was the mixed monarchy of the Hanoverians and the sustained + inspired leadership of the Prussians that really set the stage for Europe’s turbulent centuries ahead.

While Spain & Austria under the Hapsburg tottered on; the French under their Sun King eventually exhausted themselves into 2 centuries of Revolutions and Republics.

To tie it back into this piece; having inspirational school principals can obviously lift results. Also this program happens to be run by Isha Ambanis father-in-law so this could probably be a puff piece.

I do think that for India; Modi seems to be the best leader. Celibate, non-dynastic and ruthlessly focussed on the future of the country. I don’t like the man on a personal level but I respect him on a professional one.

I hold the inverse to be true for Imran Khan. I find him amusing and I’m sure he would be a charming dinner guest but I don’t think he has the ability to really lead Pakistan out of these choppy waters.

Some Random Rants

X.T.M 路 October 27, 2018 路 29 comments

(1.) I’m really tired of racism. It just seems a constant witch hunt; I don’t know what Megan Kelly actually said but constantly policing white people is leading to major pushback.

(2.) It’s really a civil war among white people themselves; as Razib notes white liberals lead very vanilla lives. I’m sad that Apu will be phased out, he was a problematic but key character.

(3.) I’m increasingly convinced that white liberals are priming “model minorities” to constantly whine and complain. The whole point about banter (in Britain at least) is the piss-taking aspect of it. WASPs do it all the time and admittedly it’s not part of the culture (it was something I didn’t understand when I first got here; Persianate traditions are particularly hyper-sensitive).

(4.) I have gotten into Twitter and am getting quite good at it. I get bored when no-one writes to me but then I get stressed when I see lots of notifications. I’ve always tried to avoid controversy (unsuccessfully) but then it’s only when one is controversial that one stirs chatter etc. It’s a meditation on what the NewsCycle is like.

(5.) I see the Tiber foaming with much blood if model minorities in the West (Hindus, Chinese) start getting on the SJW act. Political correctness is simply going mad and everyone realises that the point of immigration is simply to alter the political landscape. Personally I think it’s in very bad taste when immigrants try to transform the political landscape of their host society.

I’ll expand on this post as time goes on..

Review: Raiders of the China Coast

Omar Ali 路 October 25, 2018 路 Comments Off on Review: Raiders of the China Coast

Raiders of the China Coast is the account of a little known CIA operation that trained and managed anti-communist guerrillas and agents on the various islands that were retained by the Taiwanese regime (the “Republic of China”) after the Chinese mainland was captured by the Chinese communists. The author, Frank Holober, spent his life in the CIA and later in several academic institutions teaching about China. The book is one of the few memoirs written by people who personally took part in various CIA covert operations on the “hot” fringes of the cold war and has been vetted by the agency to ensure that no secrets are spilled (the author thanks some in the agency for approving it, and criticizes others for needless bureaucratic obstruction and “security theater”, but he got a foreword from General Robert Barrow, USMC, who had served with Frank (and the CIA) in the 1950s, so it is all good).

The book is mostly a fond look back at the author’s male-bonding days, not a detailed history of CIA covert operations during the Korean war (which is the somewhat misleading subtitle of the book). As the author relates in the first chapter (“Old Haunts Beckon”), the idea of the book came to him after he retired and revisited Taiwan after a gap of 40 years and was reminded of the days of youthful adventure and excitement he had spent there with his CIA comrades in “Western Enterprises Inc”; that nostalgia is clearly the main driver of the book. Which is fine, because while his family and friends (and those of the other adventurers he mentions in the book) will no doubt get an extra-special thrill from reading the book, other readers can also learn about an interesting aspect of the early cold war, about CIA covert operations in general, about the colorful characters who took part in these events, about China and it’s fascinating recent history, and of course, about male-bonding, buddy movies and all that jazz.聽 Continue reading Review: Raiders of the China Coast

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