UK: British mull lifting ban on Hezbollah

The more I think about this, the more incensed I become. Let's think about it. What has Islam given us? Long, long ago it gave us fine scholars of mathematics (although much of their mathematical prowess was taken from India, including "Arabic" numerals), the germ from which chemistry developed and the rudiments of astronomy (the Chinese, though were more advanced). They like to boast they invented chess, but that's another thing the Indians may truthfully claim as their own.The Arab world set great store by scholarship, and they preserved ancient treatises that were lost to the "West" as a result of Catholic fear of truth. We have an eternal debt to them for this service they gave us. They provided a haven for the Jews when the Christian world was hell-bent on the destruction of these people of the Old Testament. (The Moors' loss of Spain opened the doors to Catholic excesses against the Jews of that country.)

The world turns, though. I am not sufficiently steeped in the true lessons of history to be able to pontificate with confidence on what happened over the past 500 years or so, but somewhere along the line Islam atrophied into a nothingness as far as the rest of the world was concerned. The Muslim world became something to be ignored. It had no significance as Western civilisation came out of the Dark Ages to spread its influence far and wide. With the coming of Galileo and Newton, Islamic scholarship became nothing more than an archaic curiosity. The West advanced. Muslims tended to their camels. With the coming of the Industrial Revolution, the Islamic world was reduced to nothingness. They had but one thing - their 7th Century book. The West had its Bible, but much more besides, for science daily opened eyes to wondrous marvels to be exploited for the benefits (!!!) of humanity. Meanwhile, Muslims read the Koran ......

Then an astonishing event took place. It was found that certain Muslim lands were rich in petroleum, that very lifeblood of Western technology. Islamic states were wooed. They became wealthy beyond measure. The world beat a path to the oil-rich doors and even paid heed to Muslim thought - for it was politic to do so while the oil lasted. Even countries that possessed no oil were seemingly paid respect if they were under the Islamic sphere of influence. The richest country in the world willingly gave its people's money to buy the approbation of those Muslim lands that might prevail upon its oil-rich cousins to become difficult.

All the while an undercurrent of Islamic pride was festering. Muslims, a proud people (God knows why), saw their chance, given Western dependency on oil, to assert themselves: to wield the whip. They realised they had the opportunity to exert huge influence upon the vulnerable West. But gaining the economic upper hand was not enough. The time was ripe for the flourishing of Islam itself! And what lies at the heart of Islam? That all others are infidels. Infidels who, no matter how powerful, must be reduced to servitude or worse. Infidel societies must be brought to a state of terror; to a condition of malfunctioning. Only then will they convert to the True Faith. Enter the Muslim terrorist. His actions are legion. Countries across the world strive to curtail his activities, but they do so while avoiding stepping on the toes of "moderate" Muslims lest the oil barons withhold supplies of the precious fluid. Political leaders turn somersaults to appease those who control the oil flow, allowing hate-filled clerics to preach their gospels without censure in their lands. Islam spreads cancerously, far more swiftly than any oil slick, but in the world of politics, expediency is all.

So my country swallows its pride, turns its back on what it fought two world wars for, betrays the millions who died for the survival of its character and panders to the whims of a parcel of aliens hell-bent on destroying all it has ever stood for.

Fool, Britannia!

Hear hear! Beej , your problem is that you're overburdened with that fast disappearing faculty known in yesteryear as common sense.
I noticed that our current COE was a pupil of yours and that you judged him as unexceptional.
So a great office of state is under the control of someone average!
The Peter principle will kill us all .
New labour new incompetence!
Enoch what a sage!

Once more, as a Brit, I am filled with deep shame for my country of birth. If ever Britain needed an Enoch Powell, it is now.