Jinn of Current Events

Victor Hanson: Few in the Middle East have a clue about the nature, origins, or history of democracy, a word that, along with its family ('constitution,' 'freedom,' and 'citizen'), has no history in the Arab vocabulary, or indeed any philological pedigree in any language other than Greek and Latin and their modern European offspring. Consensual government is not the norm of human politics but a rare and precious idea, not imposed or bequeathed but usually purchased with the blood of heroes and patriots, whether in classical Athens, revolutionary America, or more recently in Eastern Europe. Democracy's lifeblood is secularism and religious tolerance, coupled with free speech and economic liberty. ... Plato remarked of such superficial government-by-deliberation [as is commonly found in Muslim countries] that even thieves divvy up the loot by give-and-take, suggesting that the human tendency to parley is natural but is not the same as the formal machinery of democratic government.

The article would be more powerful if the author, Hanson, more properly identified the US as a constitutional republic, not a democracy (which, after all, means unlimited rule of the majority, and was strongly opposed by the Founding Fathers). What distinctively characterizes the modern, enlightened Western world is the equal rule of law (not arbitrary decrees of men), individual freedom (not collective privileges and oppression), representative government (not the tyranny of kings), and the complete separation of religion from political power (not the divine right of mullahs). Unfortunately, the teachings of Islam are systematically opposed to all of these conceptions. 

Syria is run by the same party/ideology running Iraq. Its army occupies large parts of Lebanon and it nurtures several terrorist organisations there. These organisations are dedicated to the complete destruction of Israel. UPI: The U.N. Security Council in a 14-1 vote Friday condemned last month's coordinated bombing of the Paradise Hotel in Kikambala, Kenya... and a missile attempt on a civilian Israeli airliner departing Mombasa. Al Qaida subsequently claimed responsibility for both... Syria was the only council member to oppose the resolution, saying it objected to identifying Israeli civilians as among the victims. 

Victor Hanson: Sometimes a distinctive weapon — a Venetian galley or British man-of-war — becomes emblematic of an entire culture. For three centuries, the [Ancient Greek] phalanx — columns of armored hoplites in a forest of raised spear points — obliterated any Persians foolish enough to stand in its way. ... Our aircraft carriers are this nation's phalanxes, at once frightening weapons and symbols of American freedom. ...we have twelve of these colossuses — $5 billion, 80,000-90,000-ton monsters, each home to a crew of 5,000. Their flight decks cover 4.5 acres, and the 70 (and more) planes on each wield more destructive power than do most countries.