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Messages - bjung

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Politics & Religion / Re: Indonesia
« on: August 04, 2011, 01:10:52 AM »
Nice to know the question has been mostly answered. Robert Kaplan has been a journalist/writer for the Atlantic monthly and his books usually combine history, travel, and poilcy analysis. He's an American and served in the Israeli military IIRC. Many of his books give food for thought, and I find he's great for in depth area studies. He has good books on pakistan, horn of africa, and the US military.
 
I read most of his books, I think people here may enjoy

Imperial Grunts: On the Ground with the American Military

http://www.amazon.com/Imperial-Grunts-American-Military-Philippines/dp/1400034574/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312445098&sr=8-1

and food for thought:

Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos

http://www.amazon.com/Warrior-Politics-Leadership-Demands-Pagan/dp/0375726276/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312444855&sr=8-1


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Politics & Religion / Re: Indonesia
« on: August 03, 2011, 02:30:18 AM »
Just finished Monsoon by Robert Kaplan which focused on the Indian Ocean as the next theater of competition in geopolitics. He has a good chapter on Indonesia and China's two ocean strategy. Worth the trip to the library.

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Science, Culture, & Humanities / Re: Humor/WTF
« on: October 04, 2007, 11:12:37 AM »
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/02/onion.karate/index.html

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Politics & Religion / Re: The 2008 Presidential Race
« on: September 11, 2007, 05:45:19 PM »
Ron Paul gave a speech at my school today. I think my thoughts were 80% "that's interesting" and 20% "that's crazy." But overall interesting spearker. Any thoughts on him?

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Politics & Religion / Re: The Coming Anarchy by Robert Kaplan
« on: May 21, 2007, 07:57:21 AM »
Robert Kaplan is a favorite author of mine, and would recommend any of his books. I find his (bleak) outlook, a waning of civilisation, to be a real possibility. "Balkan Ghosts" and "soldiers of god" are good works/primers on yugoslavia and afghanistan, he also expanded this article into a book of the same title, which continues this theme that he also writes about in "the ends of the earth" (which i prefer).

In his latest book "Imperial Grunts" he discusses some of the work of the special forces as they provide humanitarian aid (in the philippines, south america) while engaged in other missions, as well as some reporting from afghanistanas an embed. good book, it talks about the expanding role of the army and the importance of establishing security as a basic humanitarian principle.

he responds to some of the notions in this article in 'warrior politics" which provides his vision/role for america in the onset of the coming anarchy.

good stuff, i originally came to kaplan through my interest in travel writing, he has a good historical conciousness of the places and things he writes about, well researched and easy to read.

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Science, Culture, & Humanities / Re: Crazy Horse
« on: November 12, 2006, 07:27:05 AM »
I read "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" last year. great book, this post just reminded me of things that i had read.

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Politics & Religion / Re: Islam in Islamic Countries:
« on: October 19, 2006, 07:58:22 AM »
Quote
In March the Peace Corps was forced to leave the country for fear of terrorist attacks.

That was me!!!! Some ne'er do wells threatened to kidnap my friends. Though during this time, the government also caught the two men in charge of the largest terrorist organization in Bangladesh, and things have reportedly gotten better. That said, the government often cites a conspiracy from the press to malign bangladesh's image and reporters were often killed or disappeared. The guy in this article will probably be dead soon.

I think part of the problem is that literacy is so low in Bangladesh, that they rely on others to tell them what the Koran says or rely on the interpretations coming the arab world. One guy who can read and has a microphone can hold considerable sway among the people.Though there is also a strong sense of Bengali first and muslim second ever since thier war against pakistan.
I met Bengalis who converted to Christianity, and although they were looked down upon, i dont think they faced the death threats that those in Afghanistan/Pakistan have faced. Much more prevalent was the Hindu/Muslim divide. Some ugly stuff takes place.

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Politics & Religion / ...
« on: August 05, 2006, 08:01:45 PM »
Time to weigh in...

 Although I find myself without subscribing to any faith (oh how i long for an age of reason), there are many things that I find beautiful about religion. There are many things about Islam that appeal to the best of man and as a religion it provides serenity and comfort for hundreds of millions of people. I'll echo Sibatan and say yes I also believe the majority of people want to live their lives, provide for their families, etc.
I have met many Muslims who have emphasized that Islam is a religion of peace and practice it as such. I would venture to guess that most muslims were shocked and disgusted that 9/11, bali, spain, london, etc.
were done in their name. If you look at various editorials, etc. from muslim countries you can see a strong resistence to those claims. However it seems to stop there. Either the voices calling for Islam to emphasize it's peaceful teachings aren't loud enough, are unwilling, or they don't know what next step to take in confronting militanism.
 
Having lived in a Muslim country (Bangladesh) and having visited others (Malaysia, Indonesia), it becomes clear that Islam has many varieties. Personally I wonder how much national identity and culture affect the practice of Islam in any one area. How is Islam different in say South Asia and North Africa? How is is different than in the Middle East? Or are the things that i personally find disageeable (i.e. the perspective and treatment of women) a function of national culture or religion?

Earlier Rog made a post on whether or not we were seeking out comfort by searching for moderate voices to codemn terrorism. I think it's necessary to start a dialogue on certain ground. There are people out there who place Osama Bin Laden stickers on their walls, wear t-shirts depicting 9/11, have posters of Saddam, sell Osama Bin Laden action figures, call their stores Jihad, etc. Personally it gives me the willies and it isn't easy to engage with people (thankfully not the majority) who start out discussions with "Bush bad, Osama good." I dont think it's unreasonable to ask for people to start on the ground that terrorism is bad. From our side I also think it's important to demonstrate that there isn't a big western conspiracy against Islam, which is why voices demonstrating differences in American opinion or people seeking out meaningful dialogue are important.

woof.

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