Category: Geopolitics

Why China Fears Falun Gong

Independent Online Edition > Asia
In the 19th century the Taiping Rebellion sprang from a religious cult which provoked perhaps the bloodiest civil war in human history when the forces of the Qing Empire clashed with those of a mystic named Hong Xiuquan who said he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ and claimed to be the new Messiah. At least 20 million people ­ and perhaps as many as 100 million ­ perished.

Not long after that came the Boxer Rebellion in which rebels also saw the world in more metaphysical terms, claiming that movement exercises influence the fundamental forces of the universe. They even went so far as to insist that their breathing exercises would allow them to ward off bullets. Nor wonder the normally inscrutable President Hu looked taken aback when the Falun Gong woman screamed.

The Role of Sacrifice

All religions have this theme of sacrifice and repentance, but one religion has finessed it in a brilliant way that few commentators have grasped. The story starts in Genesis. Instead of making Abraham sacrifice his son Isaac, God lets him sacrifice a ram instead, which you will probably agree is much more sensible. The Jews developed this form of sacrifice into a fine art. The Temple in Jerusalem had a special system to drain away all the blood when the rich brought hundreds of animals at a time to the slaughter.

But then came a radical change. About 2000 years ago in a confusing episode over which people still furiously argue, God said: Enough of all this wasteful sacrifice. Because I so love the world, I will sacrifice my own Son for your sins so you don’t have to sacrifice your sons or your livestock.

This Christian doctrine can have a practical effect. In China, when non-Christian villagers experience sickness or misfortune they often sacrifice their livestock to appease the evil spirits. But Christian villagers don’t sacrifice, for Jesus already died for their sins.

They end up being more prosperous.

Christopher Chantrill blogs at www.roadtothemiddleclass.com. His Road to the Middle Class is forthcoming.

The frightening truth of why Iran wants a bomb

Telegraph | Opinion | The frightening truth of why Iran wants a bomb
The author is Amir Taheri is a former Executive Editor of Kayhan, Iran's largest daily newspaper, but now lives in Europe.

In Ahmadinejad's analysis, the rising Islamic "superpower" has decisive advantages over the infidel. Islam has four times as many young men of fighting age as the West, with its ageing populations. Hundreds of millions of Muslim "ghazis" (holy raiders) are keen to become martyrs while the infidel youths, loving life and fearing death, hate to fight. Islam also has four-fifths of the world's oil reserves, and so controls the lifeblood of the infidel. More importantly, the US, the only infidel power still capable of fighting, is hated by most other nations.

Click here to see Google Maps of the Iranian Nuclear Facilities

Going Nuclear

Going Nuclear
In the early 1970s when I helped found Greenpeace, I believed that nuclear energy was synonymous with nuclear holocaust, as did most of my compatriots. That's the conviction that inspired Greenpeace's first voyage up the spectacular rocky northwest coast to protest the testing of U.S. hydrogen bombs in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. Thirty years on, my views have changed, and the rest of the environmental movement needs to update its views, too, because nuclear energy may just be the energy source that can save our planet from another possible disaster: catastrophic climate change.

Make Mexico Rich

Jonah Goldberg on Mexico on National Review Online
You want to solve the illegal-immigration problem? Well, here's the answer: Make Mexico rich.

For all the talk about coming up with "comprehensive" immigration reform, the root causes of the supply are left out of the debate about immigrant supply and demand. If we're going to be "comprehensive," why not tie a fixed but significant level of legal Mexican immigration to greater free-market and anti-corruption reforms at home. Mexico's government feels increasingly free to lecture us about our domestic and economic priorities; it seems only fitting for us to take a more active interest in theirs as well.

Militancy in Pakistan

Reuters AlertNet – FACTBOX-Militancy in Pakistan

Here are few facts about religious strife in Pakistan.

The Muslim group percentages are just the reverse of Iraq.
* Most Pakistanis are Sunnis — who regard Abu Bakr, one of the companions of Prophet Mohammad, as his successor. Shi’ites, who account for 15 percent of Pakistan’s 150 million people, revere Ali, a cousin and son-in-law of Mohammad, as his successor.

Kissinger’s World View

Insightful comments from Henry Kissinger at the recent Baker Center conference on Winston Churchill:(thanks to Tom Barnett’s blog)

We live in a period in which most of what we know from history is inapplicable or applicable in limited ways.”

“Asia today is like 19th C. Europe and the Middle East is like the 17th C. Then there’s globalization which both integrates economically and fragments politically. And somehow we need to synthesize this all in a way the public can understand.”

The Iran Plans

Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker:
One former defense official, who still deals with sensitive issues for the Bush Administration, told me that the military planning was premised on a belief that “a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government.” He added, “I was shocked when I heard it, and asked myself, ‘What are they smoking?’ ”

The ‘Let Us Eat Cake’ Generation

Foreign Policy: The ‘Let Us Eat Cake’ Generation

When Marie Antoinette purportedly said, “let them eat cake,” it showed how out of touch the French aristocracy was with the people. Now, it’s the people who are out of touch with the world beyond France. The new generation wants what their parents had: jobs guaranteed for life, complete with five-weeks of vacation every year.

Europe – Thy Name is Cowardice

Davids Medienkritik: Europe – Thy Name is Cowardice

It's fascinating that this should come out of Europe. Matthias Dapfner, Chief Executive of the huge German publisher Axel Springer AG, wrote a blistering Nov. 20th, 2004 attack in DIE WELT, Germany's largest daily paper, against the timid reaction of Europe in the face of the Islamic threat. Since then, Germany has elected their 1st woman leader, who appears to recognize the danger.

For his policies, Bush risks the fall of the dollar, huge amounts of additional national debt and a massive and persistent burden on the American economy—because everything is at stake. While the alleged capitalistic robber barons in American know their priorities, we timidly defend our social welfare systems. Stay out of it! It could get expensive. We’d rather discuss the 35-hour workweek or our dental health plan coverage. Or listen to TV pastors preach about "reaching out to murderers." These days, Europe reminds me of an elderly aunt who hides her last pieces of jewelry with shaking hands when she notices a robber has broken into a neighbor’s house. Europe, thy name is cowardice. (Original in German)