Dear Jayb,

<<Er... didn't you just tell me that you would like to see Hindu Culture ruling Australia in a previous topic.>>

Really, am I suffering from dementia?
Would you care to show me where?

Hindu culture is based on a class system that is repulsive. Thousands starve while cows are worshipped. Hindu extremist are as bad as Islamist often murderering 'heretics'. Often the untouchables are left for dead as they were suppose to have been 'bad'in a previous life.

Interesting concept, Jayb.

>>What happened previously has nothing to do with "now"<<

How do you decide what is no longer relevant?

The Battle of the Boyne took place in 1690. Orangemen still celebrate William's victory over the "papists", while the IRA still resent it, and blow stuff up as part of their celebrations. Does that have "nothing to do with now"?

China and Taiwan have been separated politically for 66 years. Does that have "nothing to do with now"?

The First Council of Nicaea took place in 325 AD, and there are still billions of people who belong to the church that was legitimized by Constantine. Does that have "nothing to do with now"?

A Turkish fighter took down a Russian bomber last week, and I guess Mr Putin is still a trifle miffed. Does that have "nothing to do with now"?

If you think that history has "nothing to do with now", you are living in a fantasy world, I'm afraid.

Pericles you mention the Cathars. yes they were a very austere lot. Virginity was highly prized especially for men. There life sounds good but as usual there were heavy restrictions on everything. They were Manichaean Christian. The ones that lost out to Paulian Christianity when Constantine accepted Paulian Christianity. He took the bribe of four matched Arab Stallions from a Paulian Bishop.

I have been to Beziers to the Cathedral. Did you know that the "Rose" window in the front of any Cathedral is a Dedication to Mary Magdalen. (They keep that a big secret.) The Grease from the people murdered inside the Cathedral is still there even though they have painted over it for hundreds of years.

Beziers was a "Free City" meaning they accepted all religions equally. When the General found the people of the city had taken refuge in the Cathedral he sent a message to Pope Gregory (yes, the one who devised our present Calendar.) He sent the message back, "If they won't give up the Heretics burn them all. God will know his own." This saying has come down throw time.

Interesting Book. "The Cathars" by Lucien Bely. (Sud Ouest ISBN: 2.87901.193.0) I brought this book in Carcassonne along with a few others about the local areas. I guess I must have hundreds of these types of books produces by local historians. Dis you know Simon De Montfort was killed at the siege of Carcassonne. A Cathar Bastion. He lost his head to a female Artillery Squad manning a Trebuchet.

I love true history.

JB: Dis you know Simon De Montfort was killed at the siege of Carcassonne.

Sorry, Toulouse & taken to Carcassonne for burial at St. Nazaire's Cathedral. I have seen his stone in the Cathedral.

Oh, all Rose Windows in front of Churches are a dedication to St Mary Magdalen. Most Catholics don't know that. Also when you look at a statue of Mary with a child. If she is standing on the head of a snake it's Mary the Mother of Joshua (Jesus), if she is beside a pillar with a vine wrapped around it & an open book with a pen It's Mary Magdalen. FYI

Regarding history and the war with Assad in Syria.

The Muslims of the Ottoman Empire, massacred the Christians in Damascus
Back in the 18hundreds.

Of cause rape goes along with massacre, and it seems to me that a lot of the people
Around Assad look half European, whereas the so called good rebels
Fighting Assad look a lot more Arab.

Is this an ancient hostility flaring into violence once again?

And does Putin understand the history of Damascus much better than Western countries. And that's why he is protecting Assad and the people around him,
Seeing the so called good Syrian Rebels as an ancient dangerous enemy
To the region and to Europeans.