Text 17971, 69 rader
Skriven 2011-05-03 12:57:59 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
     Kommentar till en text av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Generalizations
=======================
Hello Robert,

On Tuesday May 03 2011 07:21, you wrote to me:

 RB> All this reminds me of what I read in our local paper today, first
 RB> page. The headline was "Is it right to be happy about bin Laden's
 RB> death?"

I have not seen that headline here, but frankly I have asked myself the same
question.

I saw pictures of people laughing and cheering at grond zero and I had mixed
feelings about it. It reminded me of the pictures oif Muslims cheering when
those planes hit the twin towers.

A trial would have been the better way, but I guess that was not convenient.

 RB> to loudly proclaim that his death didn't "solve" anything.

Which is probably true.

In my perpspective it is a symbolic victory. Bin Laden was almost forgotten and
did not have much influence any more anyway.

Plus that eliminating the leader seldom eliminates the organisation. The usual
result is that #2 takes his place.

Not much will change. We may see some increase of terrorism due to revenge
actions. We certainly will not see terrorism stop.

 RB> The "mentality gap" between Europeans and Americans is apparently
 RB> getting wider day by day. The attitudes may have been different in the
 RB> past, but the differences were never underscored to the extent they
 RB> are now, nor was the hostility ever as great as now.

We have never been as well informed about what goes on in the world as now.
Thity or even maybe twenty years ago things like Abu Graib and Guantanomo Bay
could have been kept under the carpet. Plus that we did not know what we no now
about the other side in the cold war.

There is growing irritation about the US playing right of might. The refusal to
ratify the Kyoto treaty. The refusal to join the ICC. The list is long. Add to
that the realisation that they are not so much the good guys as we once
believed and you have good reason for the widening of the gap.

It will get worse before it gets better. There was some hope that things would
get better with Obama. He promised to close down the Gitmo Hotel end we
detected signs of a more positive attitude toward the ICC. But so far he failed
to deliver.

 RB> If we - the west - do not stick together, regardless of our various
 RB> attitudes, we eventually may find ourselves divided and conquered,

The problem with working together with the US is that it always boils down to
having to do it THEIR way...

 RB> if not militarily, then culturally, by those who _do_ stick together
 RB> regardless of their very real differences. Naturally I mean the muslim
 RB> world.

I have no such fear, as the Muslim world does NOT stick together. They are as
divered among themselves as can be. If they were able to stick together, they
would not be fighting each other in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.


Cheers, Michiel

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