3 item today from OLP essentially about Islam, Muslims, Middle East. Why?

The latest Census tells us there are 1.8% of Australians who follow Islam. 2% follow Buddhism. But 90% of the media is about Islam.

Why?

Simple. The media exploits you and terrorism by implying Muslims are terrorists and you react. Dumb.

An excellent article demonstrating that "Sunni theocratic totalitarianism" in Saudi Arabia has been an unwelcome and unintended consequence of US and European foreign policy support for the Royal Family.

Removal of all foreign military support for the unelected Royals makes sence if cooling the trerrorist threat against the US, Europe and Australia is a higher priority than securing national oil interests.

It's likely that most citizens living in the Middle East would prefer moderate elected governments and moderate tolerant religious leaders if they were ever to be given a choice.

US interferance has been a disaster long before 9/11. It just seems to be spiralling out of control as the world approaches peak oil.

It's interesting that Christian extremeism is on the rise too. The Pope asserting supremacy over all other faiths and over all other denominations. He is reaching back to history to a Latin Mass that has intolerant messages for those few who can understand it.

It is a bit rich for Muslims to accuse us infidels of being 'reactionary'. Remember how 'precious' was the Muslim reaction to a few cartoons!, and this comes from a religious group that continually vilifies us 'infidels' from every mosque. We take our right to not participate in religious delusion very seriously, but it is not us that screams fatwahs from pulpits, nor is it us that seeks to kill people for their unbelief. Religious loonies of any kind are a threat to peace at any level of society.

Pegasus,
How many hindu/christian/buddhists etc suicide bombers do you know? Know of any who flew jet planes into high rises? What about any who plant bombs on children’s buses?

No one pretends all Muslims are terrorists. I'm sure the vast majority aren't. But a significant minority are, at the very least, tolerant of these Islamo Fascists in their communities.

“Removal of all foreign military support for the unelected Royals makes sense if cooling the terrorist threat against the US, Europe and Australia is a higher priority than securing national oil interests.It's likely that most citizens living in the Middle East would prefer moderate elected governments and moderate tolerant religious leaders if they were ever to be given a choice.”

What total rubbish. The Iranians have their theocratic state, Afghanistan had one until the West got involved and the only thing preventing Saudi from become a theocracy is their Royal Family. Fundamentalist Islam is on the rise, was on the rise before 9/11 and looks like becoming the dominant force in Islam.

I am no friend to extremist Christians either by the way. I find them repulsive too, but until they start massacring people I’ll devote more of my opinion time to the Islamo Fascists.

The double standard is so ingrained in the left they don’t even see it. By all means criticize the pope for suggesting Christianity was better than Islam. But to say nothing when the Islamits vilify Jews and Christians, which they do regularly, is hypocritical.

islam is the only transnational ideology resisting western imperialism. the commies have been bankrupted or bought out. talk about one damn thing after another. perhaps we should be thankful someone is resisting, but i draw the line with this mob.

fortunately, the wahabis are the only real nutters, the rest hate the west for cause. this lot may dry up with saudi oil. unfortunately, our joy will be muted due to economic collapse.

LOL DEMOS,

I don't think "peak oil" will bring about economic collapse though it may cause a few hiccups. Our technology is sufficiently flexible for us to find alternatives to Middle-Eastern oil as a source of transport fuels.

One partial answer to oil production peaking is simply more economical vehicles. Better automotive batteries, coal-to-liquids technology and a host of other technologies are also all likely to play a role.

Our civilisation may or may not collapse but if it does it won't be because of lack of transport fuel.

Meanwhile meet rageboy, the new T-shirt icon.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kashmirs_Rage_Boy_invites_humour_mirth/articleshow/2164387.cms

Wahhabism has been a disaster for peaceful co-existance wherever in the world it has seeded. Its hallmark is its rigid thinking with facilities and support provided by Saudi finance.

The northern State of Nigeria, Kano, is a good case in point. A huge investment by the Saudi Wahhabi's in religious schools producing brainwashed zealous adherants.

In Kano, secular laws were replaced with harsh Shiara law leading to the worst bloodshed ever seen in the region between Wahhabis and the infidels - the Christians, animists, athiests and liberal Muslims.

Kano has seen extreme measures taken against people challenging their ultra-orthodox views. This ranges from boycotting health workers providing polio vaccines to bulldozing the venue for a lesbian marriage and imprisoning the women.

It's always an explosive social situation in societies when any religion is imposed by the State. The 20 year Civil War in Southern Sudan was sparked by such control attempted by the genocidal military dictator Bashir, with Wahhabist policies at the forefront of oppression and brutality.

Religious theofascists are usually tempted to seek the ultimate power in order that they can do whatever it takes to 'cleanse' society. Wahhabi graduates include the Taliban jihardists.

Centuries ago, Papal control through European Royals saw similar persecution and barbarity in the name of the one true religion. That tyranny ended when Royals became figureheads or were replaced entirely with elected representatives who ensured separation of church and state.

That's the step that freedom loving, young citizens of the Middle East need to take with our moral support through the internet and targetted international support to embolden them to throw off the theocrats' shackles. History CAN and DOES repeat itself.

For 3 decades now I have been watching Muslims and non-Muslims alike cruse the wahabbi and the unlimited money they pour into marketing their version. When I ask: 'so, who is supporting or donating a dime to moderate muslims organisations like affinity (www.affinity.org.au), there is deafening silence.

An old African story of a bunch of people in a boat when suddenly a small crack appeared and the ship started taking water. Rather than plugging the crack, every one turned into finger pointing. the crack got bigger and they were still discussing and cursing the crack in the ship. The ship is not haf full of water, so they decided to take their shoes off and roll up their pants. They are still cursing the crack as we speak.

I haven't seen a single call to support moderate Muslim organisation till today. But yeah lets keep cursing the wahabis.

Peace,

"The Saudis have spent at least US$87 billion propagating Wahhabism abroad during the past two decades,"

Well thats the real problem. All those kids being brainwashed
in Pakistani and other Madrasses, financed by petrodollars.

Its a good article as it explains whats happening within Islam.
Those paying a heavy price are moderates, Fellow Human, Irfan etc.
All this due to Saudi internal politics. The Sauds need the Wahhabs
to hang on to power in Saudi Arabia, so they pay. That money goes
to promote militant Islam around the world.

The reality remains that the West is addicted to oil and if the
Straits of Hormuz close tomorrow, we don't have a ready alternative.

Cheap food, cheap everything depends on cheap energy, without it,
you can close down much of the world economy. Thats the reality.

Yabby,

I think that if the Straits of Hormuz were to close tomorrow we could rely on the US Navy to re-open them.

In the longer term I agree that we need to move away from such heavy reliance on Middle-Eastern oil.

One wild card would be an Israeli attack on Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export terminal. The Israelis may consider this the best way of de-fanging their enemy.

The reasoning is as follows:

--An Iranian nuclear attack on Israel is unlikely because of the 200 or so nukes the Israelis would unleash in retaliation. The corrupt old mullahs who run Iran are willing to send young men and women to their deaths but their own incineration is not on the menu.

--The real menace is Iran's continued support of Hizbullah, Hamas and other proxies.

--Destroying Kharg Island effectively cuts off the money flow. The Iranian state itself may not be able to survive the loss of revenue that would entail. Certainly they would have far fewer resources to deploy against Israel.

--Bankrupting your enemy is often the best way of winning a war.

--The oil markets could probably cope with the loss of Iranian oil. Through lack of investment Iranian oil exports have been declining and now account for less than 3% of global production

not all of moslems like that, pride with "reactionary" habit. a lot of moslem have liberal perspective and tolerance on there. just visit my blog to review it. dont forget to post you comment..

www.liberalmoslem.blogspot.com

"I think that if the Straits of Hormuz were to close tomorrow we could rely on the US Navy to re-open them."

I think you'd find that if 5-6 tankers were sunk in the Straits
of Hormuz, no matter what the US did, tanker owners would run a mile
and not risk their ships. No insurance company would cover them.
The price of oil would go to 200$ a barrel and much of our economy
come to a rather abrupt halt

You can be a Christian...and no one will know the difference in the street.
You can be an atheist and the same applies.

but its unlikely that you will be an unnoticable Wahabist.

Wahabism was behind 9/11 and London and Madrid.

JOIN A RALLY AGAINST SHARIA with us at Parliament House (Melbourne) on Tuesday Sept 11 at 11:00 am. There will be no speeches (at this stage) just signs, banners and handouts. Non sectarian, all welcome, faithful, faithless and frustrated. We don't care if there are 5 or 5000 people. (as long as you are peaceful)

Let's remember there are 13 people charged with Terrorism in Melbourne. Wahabism is not far of the root of their motivation in my opinion.

The rally will be one of many world wide, all saying the same thing.
Don't just get mad.. DO something.

Yabby,

Who is going to sink those tankers?

If it's a country the US would flatten them. The US may not be good at occupation but for sheer distractive power the US military is peerless.

If, say, Iran were to try and block the straits within a few weeks they would have no airfields, no missile launch sites, no aircraft, probably even no electricity.

Why would they want to block the straits anyway? Their economy is in a parlous condition. Without oil revenue it would be in free fall.

Terrorists may sink one of two tankers but the industry would cope. You forget something. Those tankers are worthless if they're not transporting oil. Even if insurance rates went up 50 fold it would still pay the owners to use them rather than to have them idle.

Government would help. Governments which coped with Nazi U-boats across the Atlantic should be able to cope with the odd terrorist in the Gulf.

If only oil would go to $200 / barrel!

Yes it would cause a severe recession. But we'd be out of it within a few years and using much less oil to boot.

At $70 / barrel coal to liquids is a marginal proposition. At $200 it's a no brainer.

At $70 hybrid cars are a personal statement. At $200 they're sound economics and the price comes down as volume ramps up.

At $70 people hang on to SUVs. At $200 they buy more economical cars.

If oil goes to $200 all kinds of ingenuity will be applied to finding newer, better ways of moving people. Many new technologies will be invented. It would take time, maybe a decade, but we'd overcome the obstacles.

You underestimate:

--The dynamism and versatility of modern high tech free market economies

--The ability of governments and the insurance industry to cope with local disturbances

--The fact that all the gulf states have a very strong interest in keeping the straits open.

Steven, I think that you massively overestimate the abilities of
the US in today's world. Yes they are well known for their ability
to drop lots of bombs and missiles. So what? They still lost the
Vietnam war, they have lost the Iraq war, they can't even catch
Osama or his no 2, who are basically a few towel heads running around
the hills of Pakistan. Meantime the radicalisation of Islam
continues around the world, financed by Saudi petrodollars, as
is pointed out in this article.

The US today is the world's largest debtor nation, with trillions
of $ of debts. The money for oil which they wish to import, is basically being bankrolled by China and Japan. Sounds like a super
power to you? Methinks not. Clinton had at least headed them
in the right direction and things were improving. Now we have
George and Dick and its been one disaster after the next.
America is going downhill fast!

An oil tanker on blocks for a few months, in one piece, is worth
far more then a bombed out tanker. Why would anyone risk their
ship? It won't happen.

Anyone could lay mines in the Straits of Hormuz. As we know from
Al Queda, when the US don't have an obvious target, their military
is pretty well stuffed.

Yup, high oil prices will bring about new technology etc. But the
lead time to build say a coal to oil plant or anything similar, is
many years. We see how jumpy that oil markets are today, over
every little scare. Thats because they know that markets require
oil tomorrow, not in 5 or 10 years time. Meantime your wheels would
fall off your economic cart.

If America were serious, they would challenge the Sauds about
radicalising Islam. But they won't, as they know that the Sauds
have them by the proverbial testicles and are squeezing when it
matters.

Bravo Steven Meyer Refreshing to hear some pragmatism in amongst all the bloody conspiracy nuts

Western society has progressed in the way it has because of its emphasis on logos rather than mythos, especially since the mid-eighteen century. Conservative Islamic religionism and conservative Christianism are history's twins, beit [*bastardised] Jihad or Crusade. Whether it is the Latin Pope as the Vicar of Christ or Politics as a sacrament of religion, we have clones. Perhaps, in its seventh century origins and, here and there in history; Islam was the more tolerant religion.

* "jihad" means a struggle [not a Holy War]: A struggle to order one's life to give priority to God in all aspects of life.

BOAZ,

What is your understanding of Islamic concept of the People of the Book