Suggested Discussion Questions - Mar 13

[johnkarls]

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Everyone is welcome to participate in the discussion even if you have not been able to read the book. Indeed, the essential points made by Benazir Bhutto are contained in the following suggested discussion questions and it may be beneficial not to know her positions because we may disagree with her.

1. Is the American “religious right” really quite similar to the Islamic “religious right” in rejecting so-called “Western Culture” as represented by Hollywood, “gangster rap” etc???

2. Could you visualize the American “religious right” joining “Radical Islam” in viewing America (as represented by Hollywood, “gangster rap” etc.) as “The Great Satan”???

3. Now please “role play” even if you are NOT a parent -- How would you like to bring up your children in terms of the values to which they are exposed???

4. Accordingly, is Benazir Bhutto correct that greater exhange programs and the acceleration of “modernity” and “democracy” are the solution to the challenge of Radical Islam??? And isn't "modernity" really what makes Radical Islam so radical, so why do Hollywood, Ganster Rappers, etc. act so innocent as if "our shit doesn't stink"??? So if "modernity" is really what makes Radical Islam so radical, wouldn't providing "democracy" be the equivalent of "shipping scrap metal" to Imperial Japan???

5. Is it true that “democracies do not fight democracies”??? Consider in connection with your answer – (1) Hitler came to power through elections, (2) the popularly-elected Hamas government in Gaza has been raining rockets on democratic Israel since Israel ended its occupation in 2005, and (3) PEW research has consistently found that public opinion in virtually every Arab country overwhelmingly supports terrorist tactics against America and its European partners, so why do we think these attitudes would be likely to change if these countries became democracies???

6. Is there a “Clash of Civilizations” or is national identity more important than cultural identity???

7. Is all the discussion of a “Clash of Civilizations” merely a “smoke screen” so that, after discussing other cultures in the world, it is not “politically incorrect” (sorry for the necessary double negative) to discuss Islam which, according to the proponents of the “Clash of Civilizations” theory, has “bloody borders”??? In other words, is there something that is particularly dangerous about “Radical Islam” (for example, a belief on the part of suicide bombers that they will by-pass “The Judgment Day” and will be able to select 72 friends and relatives to by-pass TJD with them)???

8. How does this relate to the normal “love/hate” balance in international relations??? That everyone loves their friends, relatives and fellow citizens, say, 10 times as much they might hate citizens of another country. Which means that war would be unlikely because one would not want to risk retaliation which, if equal, would seem 10 times more painful than the satisfaction from inflicting pain on the adversary. But that once a “spark” has produced conflagration and pain has been sustained, it now seems necessary to inflict 10 times as much damage on the adversary to obtain an equal amount of satisfaction.

9. Is Benazir Bhutto right that non-Arab Islamic countries (in which the overwhelming majority of Muslims live) have been much more democratic than Arab countries???

10. Would Benazir Bhutto’s point in Question 9 be brought into greater focus by categorizing Islamic countries into oil-exporting countries and non-OPEC countries, since America and Western Europe tend to pay more attention to oil-exporting countries???

11. With how many OPEC countries are American and Western Europe on good terms (taking into account, for example, Iran and Venezuela)??? Does this analysis change if one narrows the focus to OPEC countries that have high oil reserves to population, high reserves to current production or simply high reserves???

12. Does it make sense to threaten, as Senate Foreign Relations Chair and recent Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden did fewer than 12 months ago, massive retaliation against any nation whose fissile materials are used by terrorists to destroy American cities with nuclear blasts??? Is Biden’s threat similar to the well-known Russian policy during the Cold War era that “harming a hair on the head” of any Russian will mean that you and your 72 closest friends and relatives will be dead within 24 hours??? After all, the technique only had to be employed once by the Russians and that was 50 years ago!!!

13. Is Benazir Bhutto right that the problem of “Radical Islam” is an “intra-mural” fight for Islamic countries to handle -- and America and the West should just step aside and let them do so??? How does this relate to Osama bin Laden’s fatwa to nuke 10 million Americans which Sen Fgn Rel Chair Biden, his two immediate predecessors (Richard Lugar, R-IN, and Sam Nunn, D-GA) and the Chair/Co Chair of the 9/11 Commission (Messrs. Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton) believe will start happening soon???

14. What role do multi-national companies (which Benazir Bhutto doesn’t mention) play in imposing harmony among individual countries??? In this regard, should a pre-requisite for CEO of an MNC be experience in running a day-care center???

15. Would “negotiations” (which we liberals love to trumpet as the panacea for all of our foreign-policy challenges) solve the challenge of Radical Islam??? In formulating your answer, please explain how negotiating with Osama bin Laden would differ from Britain’s negotiating “peace in our time” with Hitler at Munich.

16. If we ever eliminated Osama bin Laden, would we want to admit it??? Or is he an essential “poster child” dramatizing a much-more serious on-going struggle with Radical Islam??? In this regard, how many Generalissimo Franco’s, if any, do you think Spain's authoritarian government had in an effort to "keep a lid on"???

17. Should we all have registered as Republican so that we could have voted for Ron Paul whose principal platform was withdrawing completely from the Middle East in order to avoid provoking Osama bin Laden and Radical Islam???

18. Is there a solution to the challenge of Radical Islam??? In this regard, we should consider Benazir Bhutto's proposals for (A) a First (sic) Marshall Plan for Islamic countries; (B) a "Reconciliation Corps" modeled on the Peace Corps; (C) direct foreign aid that by-passes governments and NGO's so that like Osama bin Laden's picture handing over the community stove from which residents of the notorious Pakistani Tribal Areas obtain their free food, the U.S. could impose its imprimatur and thereby obtain proper credit; (D) an "Association of Democratic Nations" to nurture democracy in Islamic countries; (E) as mentioned above, increased exchange programs (foreign students, cultural, etc.); and (F) solving the Palestinian/Israel imbroglio (as if Bill Clinton's Peace Plan to which Arafat agreed but then decided duplicitously that he didn't want to "sell" to his followers should be warmed over and served again -- though I take her point that the festering has propaganda value for Radical Islam).

*****
I hope to see (and hear!!!) each of you Thursday evening.

Your friend,

John K.