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I also heard of a website that if you click on it automatically charges you £40, and you get the bill through the post.
Some countries face a choice between Islamist rule or secular totalitarianism. Given the choice, I think I’d plump for the latter.
1) Military dictatorship? 2) Corrupt populist democrat? 3) Taliban jihadists? That’s the choice in Pakistan. 3 is far worse than either 1 or 2 so I guess we should accept Musharref and Bhutto, warts and all – they are mere acne compared to the leprosy that is the Taliban.
Another fatal bomb blast in Pakistan today. While the world watches Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Israel, Pakistan looks like it’s quietly becoming a major flashpoint.
A political struggle is going on between a military dictator and a populist democratic contender, both of whom are friendly to the west. But all this is going on in a country where islamist jihadists are growing in strength and parts of the country are no-go areas for the government security forces. Al Qaeda and now the Taliban too are operating in Pakistan. The Taliban movement was nurtured by Pakistan in the past as a means of keeping neighbouring Afghanistan quiet, but now the Taliban is a Frankenstein monster that has turned on its creator.
So Pakistan could dissolve into civil war. This would have an effect on its bigger neighbour, India. Although muslims are a minority of India’s population, India still has the third largest muslim population in the world. There are about 140 million muslims in India, out of a total population of just over a billion, while the total population of Pakistan is 164 million, most of whom are muslims.
Pakistan is ruled by a right-wing military government led by General Musharref and Ms. Bhotto is a pro-democracy liberal. They are political adversaries. The islamic fundamentalists who committed the bomb outrage yesterday (assuming they were befind it) are attacking both sides. They’ve tried several times to kill Musharref and now Ms. Bhutto.
This illustrates the true nature of the jihadists – they are against everyone except their own narrow viewpoint. That’s why, if Bush had lost the last US presidential election, a Democrat president would still be facing the same decisions in pursuing the war on terror.
Too many people fail to realise that it matters not whether we westerners are hawkish right-wingers or appeasing pacifist liberals – we are the same in the eyes of the terrorists, we are ‘infidels’ who they believe it is their duty to kill.
We need to look to history and the position of the Jews under Nazizm – it made no difference if they were leftist Jews, right-wing Jews, they were all part of Hitler’s final solution that was intended to be applied next to the 20 million Slavs in Europe, had the Third Reich survived.
I’m a militant atheist but I suppose it keeps the Christians out of trouble and it all looks benign and happy compared to what ‘that other religion’ gets up to.
I put milk in the kettle once by mistake!
As with its sworn enemy, Al Qaeda, the Iranian fundamentalist regime could inflict horrific damage on the west but this would ultimately bring about its own annihilation.
The word ‘ira’ is the Latin for ‘anger. And we have IRAn, IRAq, IsRAel, not to mention the IRA!
More important here would be new laws specifically drafted to control the powers or assumed powers of all religions. Chief among these would be:
1) No child is born a member of any religion. Nobody may be assumed to be a full member of any religion until the age of 18.
2) No religion may claim that any unverifiable superstitious beliefs are facts.
3) No religion may promote derogatory or abusive attitudes towards non-believers.
4) The highest penalty any religion may impose on any member for transgressing religious rules is expulsion from that religion.
Well, a perfect scenario – if the ‘racist Asian thugs’ and the BNP bullies fight each other, then perhaps the resulting mutual annihilation will leave the rest of us peace-loving Brits to breathe a bit easier.
