When people worldwide say "Maybe we should let them have Sharia law in their neighborhoods..."

[alfreda89]

...please remember this can happen, and is about to happen, as the president of Afghanistan does not intend to intervene. Are you listening, Tony Blair?

Afghan on trial for Christianity

"An Afghan man is being tried in a court in the capital, Kabul, for converting from Islam to Christianity.

Abdul Rahman is charged with rejecting Islam and could face the death sentence under Sharia law unless he recants."

Comments

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

I am of the (informed) opinion that Afghanistan is going to hell in a handbasket. Again. In part, because of the British government. Again.

I'm not prepared for the UK to take responsibility for all of it, but honestly, when are we going to learn that the Great Game should have stopped in 1890?

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I'm not prepared for the UK to take responsibility for all of it, but honestly, when are we going to learn that the Great Game should have stopped in 1890?

It's not funny at all, but I must smile. And the idiot descendants of the Great Game (that's my government) are doing their part, of course. You probably don't get THE DAILY SHOW over there, but when the Vice President's image is starting to earn reactions reserved for Darth Vader (current popularity rating 18%) you know we're in trouble.

Of course, they (the hidden government I.E. executive branch) don't care what 49% of the people think. They're lame duck, control the congress and the judiciary, and can do a lot of damage before they're tossed out.

I am of the (informed) opinion that Afghanistan is going to hell in a handbasket. Again. In part, because of the British government. Again.

We get almost no news of Afghanistan anymore, and it's infuriating, because I had no problem with stepping on the Taliban HARD, but we should have stayed there, ignored SH and Iraq, and helped the Afghanis at least return to the 18th century . . ..

It's very upsetting to realize that I'm never going to get to travel in the world, because the only-president-because-if-we-impeach-him-Cheney's-president fellow has screwed us to the wall. I had friends spend their entire visit in NZ explaining No, we didn't vote for him, we campaigned against him. And the Americans you see overseas are generally not the people who put him into office!

I'm just praying that there are a few "Soccer Moms" out there listening to Bush's speeches. Because if they do, they should be hearing the same damn words that led up to Iraq -- about Iran. And it won't happen without a draft -- that's their kids going. If he loses the majority in one house, we can spike his guns.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

>We get almost no news of Afghanistan anymore, and it's infuriating, because I had no problem with stepping on the Taliban HARD, but we should have stayed there, ignored SH and Iraq, and helped the Afghanis at least return to the 18th century . . ..

To be brutally honest, I think we should have let the Soviet Union get on with it rather than arming the Mujihadeen. And that's an awful thing to say because the Russians did some appalling things in the region. But the rest of C Asia is so much more advanced, even despite some despotic governments.

The last person I spoke with about it was the former British ambassador to Afghanistan and he said it's a complete mess. One assumes that he knows what he's talking about.

>It's very upsetting to realize that I'm never going to get to travel in the world, because the only-president-because-if-we-impeach-him-Cheney's-president fellow has screwed us to the wall.

I take the NZ experience on board, but I wouldn't worry too much. I was in Islamic C Asia when the UK/US went into Iraq and nobody even mentioned it, except for one young man who asked me what I thought of my PM. When I said (sincerely) that I thought he was a lunatic, the young man replied gloomily 'They're all lunatics. Our government is no better.'

Unless they're very extreme, I think most people separate individuals from their governments. (I also met an elderly Japanese man in China who said how nice the Chinese were, and when I mentioned this to a Chinese person, she said 'We have historical issues with them. But these people are just tourists. It's not fair to take things out on them.')

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

There is a comfort knowing that a large percentage of the people of the world know that governments come and go, but the people remain. Still, we are a representative government, and right now I have exactly one person -- my local state senator -- who comes close to representing me. And I write reps constantly. Bah.

[hoosier-red.livejournal.com]

My tolerance for other cultures ends rather quickly at Sharia law. If people don't want to follow Western laws, they shouldn't live in Western countries -- simple as that.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm afraid I feel the same way. I also think we screwed up when we didn't make English the official language of the US. It's too late now, but I think you should learn the dominant language of the country you live in, if you plan to stay.

If I go to Canada, I have to pick up my French, *sigh*. I could read Art books in it once, but I am not good at speaking other languages.

[hoosier-red.livejournal.com]

I made a point of learning the language of every country I ever lived in (Canada - French, Holland - Dutch, Sweden - Swedish). I'm not hugely fluent in any of them anymore, but I accepted the fact that I was in another country and had to live by its laws.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

You're lucky that you have a gift for language!