The torch has been passed. Countries that want to put homosexuals in charge of their armies or have transgender soldiers talk to the U.S. Countries (like Israel and Saudi Arabia) with serious foreign policy concerns talk to Russia.
Russia and Iran are not going to give up on Assad. Russia’s only naval base in the Mediterranean is in Syria. But I believe that ISIS is the common enemy of all of them.
Enemy of Israel because they are militant Islamists.
Enemy of Russia and Iran because they are militant Sunni.
Donna – Maybe we should not have a set election date. Just let them start campaigning, & the last one still standing months & months (years?) later gets to be president. 🙂
Michelle, histories of Afghanistan will trace its appearance in the annals of Greek history, and the fact that Alexander the Great soldiers left their genetic mark on the area. Tragically, other, very evil things can also be traced back to those ancient times. This is what Greek and then is Roman culture looked like. This is what Indian culture looked like, when Amy Carmichael intervened to save little girls and boys from having to ‘serve’ in the temples. This is what happened in Turkish harems, and Phoenician, and Babylonian, and Assyrian, and Canaanite culture. This is the world before Christ blessed the little children and warned it was better to be drowned in the sea than to offend a child; the world before Christians became salt and light to prick the consciences of the people around them (Israel, of course, had laws forbidding such activity, but it was a nation unto itself with little influence on the behaviour of surrounding nations). A while back I linked to this article on FB: http://theweek.com/articles/551027/how-christianity-invented-children
Another notorious practice in the ancient world was the sexual exploitation of children. It is sometimes pointed to paganism’s greater tolerance (though by no means full acceptance) of homosexuality than Christianity as evidence for its higher moral virtue. But this is to look at a very different world through distorting lenses. The key thing to understand about sexuality in the pagan world is the ever-present notion of concentric circles of worth. The ancient world did not have fewer taboos, it had different ones. Namely, most sexual acts were permissible, as long as they involved a person of higher status being active against or dominating a person of lower status. This meant that, according to all the evidence we have, the sexual abuse of children (particularly boys) was rife.
What Afghanistan needs is more Christians. But the armies of the West are not Christian – though there are certainly Christians among them – and their goal was only to defeat the Taliban, not to prick the consciences of the warlords (notice the villagers strongly opposed the warlords’ behaviour); so just as the Allies aligned themselves with Stalin in order to defeat Hitler, the NATO forces allied themselves with the warlords to defeat the Taliban. Should they have turned a blind eye? Absolutely not, but they were operating under the dictates of the world’s cold-blooded pragmatism, not under the Christian rule of “love thy neighbour as thyself.”
Even the non-Christian soldiers knew right from wrong.
The guys I served with were decent guys and would not have tolerated child abuse, though many, nay most, were not Christians.
Tychicus, I agree that Israel’s culture is very closely aligned with ours. They are turning to Russia because Russia is strong and getting stronger and its leaders are reliable and act in Russia’s interest. My comments about the U.S. were to illustrate that the U.S. is weak and unreliable, not to mention that it routinely acts in a foolish and naive manner against its own interest and those of its allies.
Walker was my favorite Yankee Governor candidate, and I count Mexican Bush as a Yankee Governor even though he was born near me in West Texas and lives in Florida.
I was surprised Walker didn’t do better in the debates, I wasn’t particularly impressed. But it’s hard when you have such a large group and a few grandstanders among them.
I still like Rubio for a lot of reasons, including what I think is his electability.
Carson or Fiorina either one, would make a plausible vp or cabinet member.
I’m still struck by what a strange time it is right now — seems like everything coming apart at the seams, so much outrage and anger, it almost feels like we’re not even a country (at least not one that’s unified in any way) anymore.
Wandering Views 
The torch has been passed. Countries that want to put homosexuals in charge of their armies or have transgender soldiers talk to the U.S. Countries (like Israel and Saudi Arabia) with serious foreign policy concerns talk to Russia.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-head-to-moscow-to-talk-syria-with-putin/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Russia and Iran are not going to give up on Assad. Russia’s only naval base in the Mediterranean is in Syria. But I believe that ISIS is the common enemy of all of them.
Enemy of Israel because they are militant Islamists.
Enemy of Russia and Iran because they are militant Sunni.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Saw this on twitter: Carly Fiorina, Donald Trump, Jeb Bush and John Kasich will all be stumping in the Charleston area this week
And months and months to go before even the first primaries.
Honestly, how do they keep up the pace? Running for president is a grueling business.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Donna – Maybe we should not have a set election date. Just let them start campaigning, & the last one still standing months & months (years?) later gets to be president. 🙂
LikeLiked by 3 people
How can the world get worse? Even Eric Metaxas and Nicholas Kristof agree on this:
LikeLike
That article just makes my heart sick, Michelle. Can you imagine us allowing such things during WW2? How we have fallen!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Michelle, histories of Afghanistan will trace its appearance in the annals of Greek history, and the fact that Alexander the Great soldiers left their genetic mark on the area. Tragically, other, very evil things can also be traced back to those ancient times. This is what Greek and then is Roman culture looked like. This is what Indian culture looked like, when Amy Carmichael intervened to save little girls and boys from having to ‘serve’ in the temples. This is what happened in Turkish harems, and Phoenician, and Babylonian, and Assyrian, and Canaanite culture. This is the world before Christ blessed the little children and warned it was better to be drowned in the sea than to offend a child; the world before Christians became salt and light to prick the consciences of the people around them (Israel, of course, had laws forbidding such activity, but it was a nation unto itself with little influence on the behaviour of surrounding nations). A while back I linked to this article on FB: http://theweek.com/articles/551027/how-christianity-invented-children
What Afghanistan needs is more Christians. But the armies of the West are not Christian – though there are certainly Christians among them – and their goal was only to defeat the Taliban, not to prick the consciences of the warlords (notice the villagers strongly opposed the warlords’ behaviour); so just as the Allies aligned themselves with Stalin in order to defeat Hitler, the NATO forces allied themselves with the warlords to defeat the Taliban. Should they have turned a blind eye? Absolutely not, but they were operating under the dictates of the world’s cold-blooded pragmatism, not under the Christian rule of “love thy neighbour as thyself.”
LikeLiked by 3 people
RW: One problem: Israel has quite a liberal policy (since 1993) re. LGBT personnel serving in their military.
LikeLike
Even the non-Christian soldiers knew right from wrong.
The guys I served with were decent guys and would not have tolerated child abuse, though many, nay most, were not Christians.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Michelle, My reaction was the same as yours.
Tremendous post, Roscuro!
Tychicus, I agree that Israel’s culture is very closely aligned with ours. They are turning to Russia because Russia is strong and getting stronger and its leaders are reliable and act in Russia’s interest. My comments about the U.S. were to illustrate that the U.S. is weak and unreliable, not to mention that it routinely acts in a foolish and naive manner against its own interest and those of its allies.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ben Carson for president!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I believe I could live with that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Scott Walker made a nice withdrawal speech. He encouraged others to do the same so a strong conservative alternative to Trump can emerge.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Walker for VP. Or should that be Walker for VP?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Walker was my favorite Yankee Governor candidate, and I count Mexican Bush as a Yankee Governor even though he was born near me in West Texas and lives in Florida.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Win Ben Win!
LikeLike
I’m thinking now I want to see Rubio/Walker.
LikeLike
Anything south of Jacksonville is no longer South.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was surprised Walker didn’t do better in the debates, I wasn’t particularly impressed. But it’s hard when you have such a large group and a few grandstanders among them.
I still like Rubio for a lot of reasons, including what I think is his electability.
Carson or Fiorina either one, would make a plausible vp or cabinet member.
LikeLike
I’m still struck by what a strange time it is right now — seems like everything coming apart at the seams, so much outrage and anger, it almost feels like we’re not even a country (at least not one that’s unified in any way) anymore.
Sad and unnerving at the same time.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, Donna. Like in the 1850s. Except then the division was by region.
LikeLike
And, I’m thinking, similar also to the mid to late 1960s – remember the constant turmoil and uproar of 1968?
LikeLiked by 1 person