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Monday, February 7, 2011

Why Egypt matters...

For you Twitter Dopes...

Amplify’d from www.theblaze.com

World A Guide to Our Recent Posts on Understanding Egypt

Recently, we posted a series of stories and blog posts about the Egypt conflict featuring guest contributors. This story is meant to be a one-stop-shop of sorts for that recent coverage. As such, it will be updated. Below you will find excerpts and links to the stories.

“Sometimes a word, like a faded Hollywood starlet, makes a surprising return to the spotlight … and so it is for caliphate.  The word owes its renewed popularity to Glenn Beck, who first raised the possibility of a new caliphate on his Fox television show.  Suddenly, the word went from relative obscurity to become one of Google’s most searched words, as revolution erupted in Egypt and the world began to wonder what would emerge from the anger in Egypt’s streets.”

“Many have a hard time understanding where the political left in Europe and the United States have common ground with this theo-political Islamist movement. Socialist ideology promotes an oppression of the individual for the collective needs of society and government. Islamist ideology similarly promotes the oppression of the individual for the ‘common good’ of the Islamic state. Both snuff out individual responsibility for tribal collective control.”

“From Muhammad’s death until the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, various Caliphates or dynasties ruled the Islamic world. The most significant Caliphates in historical order were the Rashidun, the Abbasid, the Umayyid, and finally the Ottoman. At times in Muslim history, there have even been rival claimant Caliphs in different parts of the Muslim world. Although the purpose of the Caliphate is to unify all Muslims worldwide, rarely has this genuinely been the case.  Islamists however often downplay this fact and instead portray the first thirteen hundred years of Islam through a highly idealized lens…”

“We are facing a moment in history that is unlike anything we have seen in our lifetimes. Never before have so many people in so many regions of the world simultaneously beat the drums of revolution. While change is inevitable, what can we do to prepare ourselves? And how might a widespread transition to extremist Islamic rule in the Middle East effect your pocketbook? Your investments? And perhaps the politics here in the United States.”

“Obama’s foreign policy is predicated on a belief in the real power of soft diplomacy, the unclenching of fists, and the oratorical equivalent of a hug. And when it comes to the Middle East, he is careful not to make too many demands (unless, of course, you were hoping to build some apartment buildings in East Jerusalem, in which case, he’d really rather you didn’t.)”

Read more at www.theblaze.com
 

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