Are We Having A Middle East Policy Yet?

Some German commentators argue that the violence shows that Obama’s Middle East policies have failed.

“US President Barack Obama’s Middle East policy is in ruins. Like no president before him, he tried to win over the Arab world. After some initial hesitation, he came out clearly on the side of the democratic revolutions. … In this context, he must accept the fact that he has snubbed old close allies such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Egyptian military. And now parts of the freed societies are turning against the country which helped bring them into being. Anti-Americanism in the Arab world has even increased to levels greater than in the Bush era. It’s a bitter outcome for Obama.”

“Obama was naive to believe that one only needed to adopt a new tone and show more respect in order to dispel deep-seated reservations about the free world. In practice, the policies of the Obama administration in the region were not as naive as they may have seemed at times, and the Americans have always been much more involved in the Middle East than the passive Europeans. But Washington has provided the image of a distracted superpower in the process of decline to the societies there. This image of weakness is being exploited by Salafists and al-Qaida, who are active in North Africa from Somalia to Mali.”

“One thing is clear: If jihadists believe they can attack American installations and kill an ambassador on the anniversary of Sept. 11, then America’s deterrent power has declined considerably. For a superpower, it is not enough just to want to be loved. You have to scare the bad guys to keep them in check.”

The German Embassy Got Stormed?

Who cares? The KFC got torched.

Good thing that this was a day of prayer. Otherwise the violence would have been much worse.

Die Botschaft hat nach Angaben des Außenministeriums teilweise in Flammen gestanden. Laut Berichten aus Khartum befestigten die Angreifer zudem eine schwarze Flagge mit arabischer Aufschrift am Eingang.

Germans Finally Manage To Bring Muslims And Jews Together

To protest against restrictions on circumcision, that is. They’ll be getting together in Berlin to holler and shout and raise hell this Sunday, for instance. Warms your heart, don’t it?

When it comes to “flagrant interference” in religion, Germans may indeed have a long and proven track record and all, but as expected, they have clearly bitten off more than they can chew this time with their latest perfectly pointless and completely unnecessary stab at this ancient Jewish and Muslim practice.

They’re backpeddling as fast as they can, of course, but it’s too little too late and now everybody has hurt feelings and, well, that’s what you get for fixing things that ain’t broken.

“Gut gemeint ist leider nicht unbedingt gut gemacht.”

Circumcision Decision Revision

Not that there was ever much doubt about it. That it would come to a big backpedaling Aktion, I mean.

The German government says Jewish and Muslim communities should be able to continue the practice of circumcision, after a regional court ruled it amounted to bodily harm.

That’s what can happen when you have that pressing need to fix things that aren’t broken.

“Circumcision carried out in a responsible manner must be possible without punishment.”

Circumcision Decision Causing Division

And may need a revision.

Leaders of Germany’s Jewish and Muslim communities have criticized a court ruling they fear could make circumcision a punishable offense in the country.

Talk about having short vision.

German courts need more tight supervision.

There was no provision for all the derision now caused by that little incision.

“This is an unprecedented and dramatic intrusion on the right to self-determination of religious communities.”

Oh The Outrage Or Something

Remember “evil Thilo” Sarrazin, the “Germany is doing away with itself” best-selling author and purveyor of unpopular popular ideas?

His SPD is certainly trying to forget him. What do you do with a Social Democrat politician (remember that they’re the politically correct ones here) who says things like “I don’t want the land of my grandchildren and great grandchildren to become predominantly Muslim” and won’t stop saying it and won’t resign when you ask him to even when you ask him to un-nicely?

Nothing much, I guess. Not when the vast majority of politically correct (and otherwise) Germans agree with him.

Critics say the SPD’s refusal to expel him was motivated by fears that a large number of grass roots members agree with his theories and that if Mr Sarrazin were ejected, the party would risk losing support.

PS: Remember The Case of the Missing Nuclear Balls? You know, the ones that were never missing in the first place? It turns out that the SPD science minister lady what’s in charge let folks think that the ball thingies were missing even though she knew that they weren’t. But the Fukushima hysteria level was dropping too fast at that moment so I can certainly see where she was coming from.

Germans? More intolerant?

How ya figure? Wow. Talk about your news item. The survey says: Germans view Muslims and their religion (and Jews and theirs) more negatively than their European neighbors–who don’t seem to care much for them either, by the way.

But at least Germans are fair. When it comes to being unfair, I mean. The survey also came up with similar negative results for other religions like Hinduism and Buddhism. 

“The representative survey, which polled 1,000 people in each of the four countries mentioned, found that fewer than five percent of Germans thought Islam was a tolerant religion, compared to roughly 20 percent for the Danes, Dutch and French.” 

How can Muslims speak this way about Islam?

And not get listened to, I mean. Forget Sarrazin. More Muslim eggheads like this guy, please.

“In a sense, Islam is like a drug, like alcohol. A small amount can have a healing and inspiring effect, but when the believer reaches for the bottle of dogmatic faith in every situation, it gets dangerous. This high-proof form of Islam is what I’m talking about. It harms the individual and damages society. It inhibits integration, because this Islam divides the world into friends and enemies, into the faithful and the infidels.”

“I don’t like that expression (Islamophobe). A person who has a phobia is someone who harbors fantasies. But the dangers posed by Islamists are real.”

“You accuse your fellow Muslims of continuing to search for scapegoats.” “Yes, instead of seeking faults within themselves. Perhaps the process I experienced is the process Islam needs as a whole, namely that everyone looks at themselves critically and stops constantly blaming others for their own misery and feeling like a victim.”

“There are 1.4 billion Muslims. So what? The important thing is that in almost all countries with a Muslim majority, we see the decline of civilization and a stagnation of all forms of life. Islam has no convincing answers to the challenges of the 21st century. It is in intellectual, moral and cultural decline — a doomed religion, without self-awareness and without any options to act.”

“whenever Muslims seek to introduce Islamic studies into European schools or try to obtain nonprofit status for an Islamic organization, there is always talk of one Islam. The minute someone attacks the faith, they resort to a trick to stifle the criticism and disingenuously ask: Which Islam are you talking about?”

“My dream, in fact, is an enlightened Islam, without Sharia law and without jihad, without gender apartheid, proselytizing and the mentality of entitlement. A religion that is open to criticism and questions.”

“Most so-called reformers of Islam remind me of the band on the Titanic, which kept on playing even as the ship was sinking, so as to give the passengers the illusion of normalcy. The underlying problems are not addressed.”

“You criticize Muslims as a group for taking offence quickly and even savoring it. You have accused European liberal leftists of pursuing a “policy of appeasement” toward Islam. Why do you, as an academic, sometimes enjoy being the provocateur in a similar fashion to Sarrazin?” “You have to state your opinions clearly if you want to be heard. There are plenty of apologists for Islam.”