LogFAQs > #886772193

josifrees posted...

Also, is it like impossible for a Muslim democracy to not get usurped instantly? It would really really help fight global terrorism imo if there were a face to Muslim democracy for modern Muslims to rally behind and emulate.

@josifrees

Focusing on short-term stability at the cost of long-term sustainability, is itself a major cause of instability. This was the error of the United States from the 1950s to the end of the Cold War, and it continues to be an error under Donald Trump.

Specifically, "stability by strongman" is a major cause of instability. Libya, Iraq, and Syria are unstable today because of the legacy of Gaddafi, Saddam, and Assad.

And yet some key western countries today want to pull out of the Middle East by allying with the arsonists.

When chicken and beef are the only two options on the menu, nobody will order fish, even if they don't particularly like chicken or beef. Ask yourself: what's on the menu of ideas in the Arab world? And who's preventing new ideas from being added to the menu?

We're spending too much time analyzing the items on the menu, instead of working on expanding the menu. (This has been my major bone of contention with @-Gavirulax-. Almost every major problem with Islam in the Middle East, the extremism and the anachronisms, are traceable to Riyadh and Tehran -- not to the Quran, which has always been his go-to.)

The solution to the Syrian refugee crisis doesn't lie in Europe, it lies in Syria. Assad is still creating refugees.

Sometimes you try to avert disaster. Other times the best course is to accept that disaster has or will happen and focus on the clean-up.

The present is unstable and unsustainable. Going back to the past is impossible. The way to the future is blocked. Something's gotta give. Holding back change won't make it go away... It'll just make sure it happens more violently. Trying to fight back the Arab Spring only created a Jihadist Winter. How much different would the Middle East be today if the dictators had allowed there to be a peaceful transition of power?

There was a peaceful transfer of power in Tunisia, and today that country is a thriving democracy.

Meanwhile, was life more stable in Libya under Gaddafi? Well, yes -- your head stays very still when a boot is pinning it to the ground. But it's not sustainable.