I must not think bad thoughts
Blogging the rise of American Empire.

me

Thursday, June 12, 2003

The what-country-are-you quiz:

Switzerland
Switzerland -
A neutral power for as long as most can remember,
it has avoided war for several centuries.
However, it is still considered highly advanced
and a global power.


Positives:

Judicial.

Neutrality.

World-Renouned.

Powerful without Force.

Makes Excellent Watches, Etc.


Negatives:

Target of Ridicule.

Constant Struggle to Avoid Conflict.

Target of Criminal Bank Accounts.



Which Country of the World are You?
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Posted by: Nathanael / 7:33 PM : (0) comments

Monday, June 09, 2003

The Buff Blogger (aka Geek Lethal), asked me to comment on an article concerning the problems of Muslims and antisemitism in France. Here are some preliminary thoughts:


  • I have to reiterate that Americans distance from France is making the
    problems seem more extreme. Guy Milliere's opinion interested me not so much
    for its veracity, but because it resembles what social conservatives like
    Buchanan have said for years about immigrant problems: that need to
    assimilate, schools are teaching them to love America (they are teaching
    America hating instead,) that France is in a downward spiral. Above all,
    these debate have to be seen in partisan perspectives. The subtext of
    Milliere's opinion is that France has lost the ability to act alone. This is
    true. But it has consciously pursued a policy of favoring collective action
    in the context of multilateral international organizations. There are many
    Frenchmen like Milliere who see the symbiosis of France and EU as the
    destruction of the nation, and they are ringing loud alarms.

  • I must disagree with Milliere on the creation of the Council of Muslim
    Faith. This group can potentially create a French variant of Islam--one that
    is in tune with the political culture of France. Similar measures were taken
    in order to assimilate Jews (these were the Consistoires, created under the
    Revolution, and which still operate today.) They reform and standardize
    religious practices and beliefs and attune them to the interests of the state.

  • The French have turned a blind eye to antisemitism. Until recently. The
    current issue of Vanity Fair has a long expose about antisemitism, how the
    government turns a blind eye to it and counts it as ordinary violence. But I
    would say that, while I was in Strasbourg, that I say positive signs that the
    population was pushing the government to deal with antisemitism. (Of course,
    there are powerful agents in the US who would similarly deny the existence of
    hate crimes.)

  • The responsibility of a nation to its former colonies is one if the most
    difficult parts of international policy. There are too many dangers, too
    many pitfalls. The Blair-Mugabe confrontation (Zimbabwe being a former
    settler colony of Britain) is driving a wedge between the industrial and the
    non-industrial world. France's relationship with North African colonies is
    potentially explosive. However, the interference of former colonial masters
    can have benefits. France has tried to quell problems in West and Central
    Africa (although I would offer critiques of how this has been done.) The US
    has generally washed its hands of the affairs of former colonies unless they
    involve specific strategic interests (see Liberia as place where the US has
    done very little.)

  • The biggest problems that the French will face has to do with how Muslims
    integrate into the contemporary society with its problems. I think that
    Kamins has many insights and I wish that he would have written more. Like in
    many societies, the immigrants are brought in to take up the menial work
    (even Bush wants to increase immigration.) This dichotomy is more present in
    France that in other countries. People like Milliere are ultimately not
    interested in this ethnic underclass: they want the people to come, work as
    servants, and go away.

  • The US has been blessed by the way that some ethnic groups perceive the
    country. To Hispanics, the southwest is "El Norte", a place where the
    American and the Mexican worlds overlap.