Archive for February, 2006

I’m surprised to find myself caring about this, but I’ve gotten in a debate over the UAE port deal. Some of my thoughts:

The U.A.E has some significant freedoms compared to the U.S., especially in some areas that I find personally important. Whether economic or political freedom is more important to you personally is not the issue.

The issue is that the UAE has an economy that is mostly free, and further trade with the West will encourage the growth of productive values instead of the destructive values prevalent in the Arab world. Isolating a progressive country like the U.A.E will be a racist statement that will discourage the rest of the Islamic world from economic liberalization, and instead encourage their anti-Western sentiment — and in this case, with good reason.

This is not about the safety of our ports, as Binswanger explained, or the totally irrelevant fact that the UAE is not a democracy. The issue is whether we will recognize the virtue of a society that has chosen civilization, or engage in collectivist thinking and refuse to distinguish a potential ally from our enemies.

Update: this article has more info on Dubai Ports of the World, the company taking over the ports..

Apparently some Muslims are in a tiffy about this image. They are issuing death sentences, burning embassies, and demanding that “honest people all over the world to condemn this act.” But is this an inaccurate portrayal of their religion? Until they condemn these acts, I think it is.

I think there is a historical significance to the fact that European papers have for the first time made a stand against the Islamist invasion– this may be the beginning of an anti-Islamic revolt in Europe.

I don’t believe there is any peaceful resolution possible to the conflict between Western civilization and Islamism. The Europeans are blinded by their multiculturalism, and the Islamists are blinded by their intolerant fanaticism and racism.
The European welfare states are too dependent on their foreign labor populations to expel them, and too multiculturalist to integrate them.

The Paris riots and election of Hamas are just the beginning — the two sides have begun an escalating whirlwind of violent radicalization. The only thing capable of preventing the coming conflict is the American value of religious tolerance — but the European and Islamic cultures are too far gone. This may end with gas chambers once again running in Europe – this time their Islamic population.