um.. yeah.. just like that...

Ad(I know what you mean, but, um, huh?)der

It's not the Arab view. It is the truth.

Which, btw, does not make it inappropriate.

Oddly, I am more hopeful of the effect of democracy. But your point is not unfounded.

I don't know how many times I have to say it, but I am not a conservative.

I thought he was referring to something other than the general feeling of Arabs, i.e., that there is something inherent in the new government that made it especially antagonistic to Israel.

As opposed to where it is today?

Let's give them the whole state of Florida. It sucks anyway. One giant strip mall. But the weather is good.

You understate the importance of the proper succession of the caliphate.

eta: That's meant as a joke. I know its not funny, but never say i don't mock all religions equally.

Adam Carolla on Stern about 10/1/2001. give the jews the Baja desert.

Danger there is, they revitalize the entire Mexican countryside, eclipse us in economic performance, and we become simply a more boring Canada.

(I've always been impressed with Israeli econ performance in tough areas.)

Freedom on the March
 

I am a sufficient deadbeat as to not know how much money that is, but you are on.

Note, however, that I said there would be U.S. troops in Syria and Lebanon, not that we would necessarily invade.

The problem is the Arabs have never been able to act in concert thereby making them pretty much powerless. In addition, Egypt - against its peoples desires - has reached an accomadation with israel. A united Arab state would have all the wealth and military technology of the Gulf states (and possibly Algeria, Iraq and Libya), Egypts large military force with its professional officer corp, all the Palestianians of Jordan that can't wait to fight, the sympathizers in the West Bank and Gaza, the strategic advantage of completely surrounding Israel and the ability to coordinate all those assets under a unified military command. If that wasn't enough, they could cut off any allies of Isreal from 80 percent of the known world Oil Reserves. A united democratic Arab state is pretty much Israel's worst nightmare.

BTW - I asked about a Democrat Arabia at a forum where both Wolfowitz and Bill Kristol were on the panel. Their position was

1) They did not believe that Arab nationalisim was very strong and was being replaced by local nationalism (Iraqi, Syrian nationalism etc.)
2) Anti - Israeli sentiment was being whipped up by the dictatorial regimes and therefore would not be as strong in a Democracy
3) Once the Arabs started making money they would be less inclined to worry about Israel. And in the interest of becoming prosperous they would decide to trade with Israel.

I have a lot of respect for both these men but in this case I don't think they could be more wrong. I think their love and hope for the state of Israel has twisted their perception of the situation.

Most of Bilmore's better similes come from his days in the Merchant Marine, circa 1934.

I am afraid that a secular Arab nationalism is being replaced by fundamentalist Islam. The changes in some of these countries has been fairly dramatic.

You laugh, from ignorance of course, but of my times, my time afore' the mast was the best of all of them.

http://store1.yimg.com/I/zhemgang_1775_35831354

Everyone is afraid of this. The question is what to do. The effort to start democracy in the ME is perhaps somewhat desparate- but the alternative is to wait for the fundamentalists to get so strongly entrenched that some massive war becomes inevitable. I fear my grandchildren will see some version of WWIII with (Islam v. The rest) as the sides.
Don't you- or is there some other solution you see.?

And to the "We are making it worse" crowd- before Iraq Osama was one of the most popular names for baby boys in Islamic countries, 80% of Saudi TV audiences believe the US did 9/11 to itself, etc. "Worse" needs to be seen in context.