It’s the end of the world as they know it,
We should remember that “Syria,” “the Lebanon,” “Palestine,” and “Iraq,” had not been names that denoted political entities. These were geographical expressions that transcended politics. These lands had previously been organized along different lines in the administrative structure of the Ottoman empire. In that oecumenical empire the various peoples had only recently been “infected” with the Western notion of ethno-linguistic nationhood. Before that, people thought of themselves as; Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims, Jews, different kinds of Christians, etc. In those locally characteristic categories people lived in their “millets” in relative order under the yoke of the Ottoman state. Saddam continued that tradition.
Hard to yank one paragraph out of the post.
In the main, it is just a reality check, and all the bullshit from DC isn’t going to change anything.
Kudos to Larry Johnson for seeing this all coming on May 12th, a lesson in paying attention to those with whom you disagree with, and I think Larry’s going forward from here is wrong, until we can actually answer Jim Wrights question honestly.
Terraformed 