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Skip to main content Skip to main menu Skip to search Skip to footer. Search for:. Monitor Daily Current Issue. Jason, I am, however, curious about what you seem to be saying here. Are you implying that the most likely reason for a person to highlight perceived 'flaws in the American narrative' is their own unresolved sense of personal failure viz 'The American Dream'? What about people who complain specifically about the United States Government?
Would you say that they too are, for the most part, a sorry pack of disgruntled losers buckling under the weight of their own inadequacy? Jason, thanks for your thoughtful response. If you like, it is less a matter of 'setting you right', than indicating to you the clarity of your own mind.
On the other hand, I could be wallowing deludedly in my own "inscrutable" hogwash. Either way, peace be upon you. You are right. I should have clarified what I meant with my off-hand remark about China. No matter how much one tries, it is hard to imagine what it must be like to live under a regime that beats freedom out of you in almost every aspect of your life. The 'we' I refer to are those of us who uphold freedoms, liberty, law of contract and other fundamental principles of an open democratic society.
Regarding Platos Republic, we must remember that it is like a bunch of guys imagining the creation of a society in theory. I guarantee even if this Republic could be created the moment it started Plato and his mates would be shocked that it all fell away with the fragility of social discipline, incentives, competition, talent, failure etc. Im not sure I am qualified to enter into the Sun Tzu v Clausewitz clash.
What I am sure of is that while in theory even leaders with the best intentions would know that following either of these titans of warcraft would be better than the course of action they are following in reality given all the influences, variable, geo-political balance of considerations and weighing the best and worst consequences. Either way I totally disagree with van Crevelds last answer "as to the U. S, I do not see that it follows any particular set of principles except hypocrisy: meaning, the heart-felt need to dress up its extraordinary hunger for power with fine-sounding phrases about freedom, democracy, women's rights, etc.
This is an indication of somebody who is disgruntled with his lot in life. Some of its leaders have made colossal mistakes others have set the frameworks for global stability.
Somewhere within all this is part of the reason why 'they hate us so much as the original post by Mike Few asks. Jason, although I understand that he inspires a mix of opinions, you may or may not find this interview with Martin Van Creveld interesting:. What first got you interested in writing and teaching about military history and strategy, and what keeps you continuing to do so?
Here, Socrates says that the imaginary city he and his interlocutors are about to construct will act like a magnifying mirror for looking into the human soul. With war, things are similar.
More than any other human activity, war subjects men--both as individuals and in large groups--to the most extreme conditions. By so doing it brings out the human soul in all its baseness and all its glory. Do you agree in general? If so, which of the two ideas do you think will apply more in future wars? If not, what doctrines or sets of principles do you see the US military leadership following? S military leadership has followed either Clausewitz or Sun Tzu, or else it would hardly have gotten itself involved in an unwinnable war in Iraq.
In the future as in the past, both Clausewitz and Sun Tzu will undoubtedly have a lot to offer. As to the U. At least we know where people in the Middle East stand - they are not silently two faced like China. Jason, are you saying that China's one billion plus people are silently two-faced? Do you think this could be because they have historically and currently lack a tradition of "freedom of speech"? Could you imagine that this has given rise to a "different value system"?
What we find deeply perplexing is how people still hate us no matter what we do. When you say, "we can accept that different people have different values", who is the "we" of which you speak? In another comment thread, there seemed to be dissatisfaction because a PLA general criticised America.
Now, you seem to complain that China is silent. Would it be unfair to note that Westerners seem to value an opinionated and incoherent verbosity predicated on petulant generalisations and an almost infantile and logically deficient short-hand? Clearly, it would, would it not? For too long we have been kidding ourselves that we can make other people love us. If only we build more schools, donate more money or refurbish another medical clinic. For me, as long as they dont hate us that much that they want to kill us or allow others to do this from their home.
Americans believe that all these terrorists, if you scratch beneath the surface, are looking for religious equality and justice. That's complete and utter nonsense. Americans can't face the reality that different people have different values. Ibn Warraq is correct for the most part. However, we can accept that different people have different values.
We value-load the support we provide. This does not mean we give up attempting to explain who we are and neutralise the hate with the people. Machiavelli said it is better to be feared than loved. I think it is better to be respected. Even better when the respect is underpinned by an unequivocal strong response to any threats.
Machiavelli mentions that "fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails. Unfortunately we have been inconsistent in our behaviour.
We attack in Libya and stay out of Syria. We strike in Iraq but remain limp with N. We condemn actors in favour of the Palestinian cause for acts of brutality yet remain mute when Isreal does the same.
On weekends, many switch to traditional salwar kameez outfits and go with their fathers to the mosque to pray. They have much to gain from a Western style of life, and most have plans to move to the United States for a few years to make some money before returning home to Pakistan.
Yet despite their attraction to the West, they are wary of it too. If one Muslim is injured by non-Muslims in Afghanistan, it is the duty of all Muslims of the world to help him. Like his friends, Ahmed feels that America has double standards toward its friends and enemies.
It ostracizes a Muslim nation like Sudan for oppressing its Christian minority, but allows Russia to bomb its Muslim minority into submission in Chechnya. And while the US supported many "freedom fighter" movements in the past few decades, including the contra movement in Nicaragua, America labels Pakistan and Afghanistan as terrorist states because they support militant Muslim groups fighting in the Indian state of Kashmir and elsewhere.
It is this double standard that creates hatred. Ahmed's ambivalence about America - his desire to live and work there, his admiration for its values, but his anger at its behavior around the world - is broadly shared across the Muslim world and Arab world. That seems clear enough to Muslims who sympathize with the Palestinians, and who say that Washington should force Israel to abide by United Nations resolutions to withdraw from the occupied territories.
It also seems clear to citizens of monarchical states in the Gulf, where elections are unknown and women's rights severely restricted. At the same time, the state-run media - which is all the media there is across much of the Middle East - often fan the flames of anti-American and anti-Israel sentiment because that helps focus citizens' minds on something other than their own government's shortcomings. In Sana, the Yemeni capital, where queues of visa-seekers line up daily outside the US embassy, the ambivalence about America is clear.
But when you go back home, you find the US applies justice and fairness to its own people, but not abroad. In this era of globalization, that cannot stand. A fatwa is something Amirul Haq, a Pakistani shopkeeper whose son died two years ago in a jihad in Kashmir, understands better than judicial review. It's a sentiment shared by Azad Khan, too. On a hot Sunday afternoon in Mardan, Pakistan, Mr. Khan and his family have laid out a feast in a small guesthouse next to the local mosque. They are celebrating because they have just heard that Mr.
Khan's year-old son, Saeed, has been killed in a gun battle with Indian troops in the part of Jammu and Kashmir state that is under Indian control. With his death, Saeed has become another shahid, a martyr and heroic defender of the Muslims against the enemies of Islam.
According to the Koran, shahideen are not actually dead; they are still alive, they just can't be seen. And through acts of bravery, a shahid guarantees that his whole family will go to heaven.
We are happy," says Khan, sitting down to a meal of chicken and mutton, rice and bread, along with leaders of the group with which Saeed had fought. It is our duty to fight against any infidels who are threatening our Muslim brothers. It's not likely that many Pakistanis, or other Muslims, will actually go to Afghanistan to fight the Americans - assuming American soldiers land there.
Khan's militant views are not shared by most of his countrymen. But in a broader sense, and in the longer term, many people in the Middle East fear that the coming war against terrorism - unless it is waged with the utmost caution - could unleash new waves of anti-American sentiment. Jamal al-Adimi, a US-educated Yemeni lawyer, speaks for many when he warns that "if violence escalates, you bring seeds and water for terrorism.
You kill someone's brother or mother, and you will just get more crazy people. Trying to root out terrorism without re-plowing the soil in which it grows - which means rethinking the policies that breed anti-American sentiment - is unlikely to succeed, say ordinary Middle Easterners and some of their leaders.
On the practical level, Hariri points out, "launching a war is in the hands of the Americans, but winning it needs everybody. And that means everybody should see that he has an interest in joining the coalition" that Washington is building. On a higher level, argues Bassam Tibi, a professor of international relations at Gottingen University in Germany, and an expert on political Islam, "we need value consensus between the West and Islam on democracy and human rights to combat Islamic fundamentalism.
We can't do it with bombs and shooting - that will only exacerbate the problem. Already a subscriber? Monitor journalism changes lives because we open that too-small box that most people think they live in. We believe news can and should expand a sense of identity and possibility beyond narrow conventional expectations.
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A Christian Science Perspective. Monitor Movie Guide. Monitor Daily. Photos of the Week. A long lament about the plight of the Arabs, addressed to a dead Syrian poet, it ended: "Children are dying, but no one makes a move.
Houses are demolished, but no one makes a move. Holy places are desecrated, but no one makes a move I am fed up with life in the world of mortals. Find me a hole near you. For a life of dignity is in those holes. A daughter dies, and parents wait for US apology In the middle of the night of April 16, , the deafening sound of anti-aircraft guns woke Saniya Ghussein with a sudden start.
Bassem lay awake on the bed, listening to the appalling noise in the night sky above. You've read of free articles. Subscribe to continue.
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