Thursday, October 26, 2017

What separates Civilization from Savagery

When you have two pathways for achieving the same goal; one voluntary and the other coercive, civilization will invite you to choose the voluntary way, whereas savagery will nudge you to choose the coercive way.

Of course, all cases are not so perfect as to offer a clear choice between the two possible pathways. For this reason, conditions, caveats and other factors are taken into consideration when weighing a decision as to which pathway will make the better choice. The following real life examples should help illustrate these concepts.

Example 1: Four Arab countries were unhappy with the conduct of Qatar, another Arab country. They asked the leaders of Qatar to change their ways but the pleas were ignored. And so, the four countries severed relations with Qatar knowing that this will make life a little more difficult for Qatar without troubling the population too much given that the country is extremely rich. It will provide the necessary goods and services for its people, though at a higher cost to the treasury of the regime.

The response of the four Arab countries to the conduct of Qatar is a classic example of Arab civilization in practice. The four countries warned Qatar and gave it a chance to remedy the situation. When Qatar did not respond favorably, the four took measures to pressure Qatar; a gesture meant to show they were serious. And they will maintain this posture as long as necessary to give Qatar the time to change its ways voluntarily, doing so gradually to save face by not appearing to capitulate under outside pressure.

Example 2: When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, the Arab League asked him to withdraw his troops, but he refused. Because it was clear there was nothing more they could do to convince him that he should withdraw voluntarily, they decided to employ a coercive method. To that end, they entered into a military alliance with the United States of America, and forced the Iraqi army out of Kuwait. This too was civilized conduct – even if coercive – because force was used as a last resort, was proportional to the offense, and did not go beyond pushing the invader back to his territory, stopping there despite calls to invade Iraq.

Example 3: Having learned his lesson, Saddam Hussein made sure not to violate any rule that would bring calamity on his country or his regime again. He also took all necessary measures to ascertain that the world knew he had nothing to hide, and the world was satisfied. The exception were the Jews of Israel; those of America and everywhere else in the world, who wanted to see the destruction of Iraq the same way that they want to see the destruction of every neighbor of Israel. To satisfy this insatiable hunger for horror, they pulled all the tricks they had developed over the centuries to convince America it must destroy Iraq. And America did.

The mentality powering the Jews who attacked unarmed Lebanon twice, attacked helpless Gaza three times, teamed up with France and Britain to attack Egypt, and convinced America to attack Iraq, is a savage and coercive mentality. It is proper to the Jews who do not seek to resolve conflicts they may have with others. What they'll do instead, is cower and play dead if they know they are outmatched. They'll maintain this posture till they can develop the means to crush the neighbor, or team up with a “friend” more powerful than they, and do the crime together. Better still, they'll try to entice the friend to go it alone and do the crime for them in exchange for a smile and a pat on the back. Just ask the American Congress.

These examples trace a clear demarcation line between the civilized Arab and the savage Jew. But things can get more complicated for someone trying to judge a situation involving an extra player. An example of this came in the form of an article written by Clifford D. May under the title: “The Kurdish test” and the subtitle: “Iran's mullahs are betting that trump, like Obama, will choose appeasement.” It was published on October 24, 2017 in The Washington Times.

The author makes his point in the first sentence of the article. It is this: “In a just world, the Kurds would have a state of their own,” and he sets out to develop the case. Our purpose being to judge which pathway – the civilized or the savage – Clifford May is using, we do not dwell on the merits of the case, but concentrate on the mentality that's reflected by his logic.

Here is what he says: “To make America great again requires demonstrating that America is the best friend and the worst enemy any nation can have ... It is essential that Mr. Trump make clear that any advance on Erbil will be met with stiff sanctions and, if necessary, force”.

The fact that he threatened force does not necessarily mean he chose the savage pathway of the Jews. What we must do, therefore, is try to determine if he had sufficient reasons to make that choice. And so, we comb through the article where we find the following:

“When Americans invaded Iraq, the Kurds greeted them as liberators. Nowhere in the so-called Muslim world will you find a people more pro-American. Iran's rulers are testing Mr. Trump. They are betting that, despite the tough talk, he won't have the stomach to do what is necessary to frustrate their ambitions”.

What is Clifford May saying here? He is saying that America should threaten Iraq and its ally Iran, with force if they don't let the Kurds breakaway because the Kurds seem to like America – at least for now. If America does that and gets away with it, it will become great in the eyes of others because they will guess that America has the qualities of being a generous friend or a fearsome enemy. And that is sufficient reason to “Shock and Awe” Iraq again, and do the same thing to Iran.

No, that's not the pathway of the civilized Arabs; it is the pathway of the savage Jews.