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>> Whether or not you believe the Arab Spring actually resulted in good outcomes, the salient fact is that US funded groups started the revolutions and prominen
by jebblue 14y ago
>> Whether or not you believe the Arab Spring actually resulted in good outcomes, the salient fact is that US funded groups started the revolutions and prominent neocons (like Fukuyama in that WSJ article) were/are calling for similar actions in China.
This is why the Chinese government feels that it is under attack by the United States
The Chinese don't give a rat's hoot about the Arabs. They attack American computer systems for obvious reasons, obvious to most of us.
- rationalthink 14y agojebblue, I believe the point of the paragraph you highlighted is that China feels it's under attack by the United States, not that it cares about the Arabs.
- jebblue 14y agoMaybe I should have highlighted the whole drivel of a comment ... my point ... remains what I wrote. America trying to teach Arabs about the virtues of Democracy is +not+ why China attacks American computer systems.
- natrius 14y agoNo one said what you're disagreeing with. Try reading the comment again.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- knowtheory 14y agoYou are also categorically incorrect. The Chinese central government most certainly cares about Arabs, as they share a disputed border with several majority Muslim countries, including Pakistan and Afghanistan. Moreover they have repressed domestic minority populations who are predominantly Muslim. The extent to which there are Islamic unification or nationalist movements (which are often tied in with movements in the middle east), the Chinese government very much does care about unrest amongst Chinese muslim populations.
- babarock 14y agoI'm confused... What's the relationship between Arabs and Pakistan/Afghanistan? There's a difference between being Arab and being Muslim. The greatest Muslim countries are not Arab (Indonesia, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan). "Islamic unification" is by definition the opposite of "nationalist movements", and is very unlikely to happen. I can guarantee that Saudis, Pakistanis, Morrocans and Turks have way too little in common to even consider unification. Source: I'm a non-Muslim from the Middle East.
- knowtheory 14y agoRevolutionaries tend not to be known for dealing in practicalities. And yeah, you're right, Arabian culture is distinct from other parts of the Muslim world, but neither are they totally disentangled either. Both the green revolution in Iran and the Egyptian revolution against Hosni Mubarak had well defined religious components for example.
- babarock 14y agoAgain bad example, Iran is not an Arab country. They don't speak the same language, they don't share the same culture, they consider themselves the descendants of the Persian Empire, not the Caliphate (the big Arab Empire a few hundred years ago). Also, I'm not sure I get your last sentence either. An awful lot of revolutions in the world (Arab and otherwise) have been fueled by religion. Even in the US, religion might not have been a motivation for the War of Independance, but it had a major impact on the relationship between government and religion. Arabs also know how to do revolutions without involving religion: - Lebanon went through something extremely similar to the Arab Spring back in 2005. The revolution against the oppressors of the time succeeded by putting religion aside and having most parties unite. (Lebanon is a segregated mosaic of approximately 17 religions, each having more or less political power). - Syrian resistance (or rebels, depending on your point of view) are not, despite what the media is telling you, an Islamist resistance. The leaders of the resistance have clearly repeated over and over again that they're not after the minorities, they're not trying to put Islam forward, they're simply against the Assad regime.