The CBC reported today that Western leaders are now worried about Libyan rebels gaining possession of one of Gaddafi's arms caches and the dangers posed should this military weaponry be given into the hands of terrorists. I am humored by the fact that the CBC indicated no acknowledgement of the fact that many of these rebels, and presumably a majority of the leadership, are Islamists to begin with.
Neil J. Kressel writes, "For many Westerners, it has become difficult to consider Islam apart from the images of violence and hostility it evokes." With the so-called Arab Spring in full bloom all across the Middle East and North Africa, from Egypt to Libya to Syria and beyond, the media is having a field day with these new wars, erroneously displaying these events as a sort of political reform movement being fulfilled by primarily young Muslim protestors--as though these civil wars are nothing more than salubrious affairs of state. I don't view these tumultuous events as political reform toward a better and more democratic future but rather as an Islamic religious expansionism drawing back into the past and away from contemporaneity.
The CBC reported today that Western leaders are now worried about Libyan rebels gaining possession of one of Gaddafi's arms caches and the dangers posed should this military weaponry be given into the hands of terrorists. I am humored by the fact that the CBC indicated no acknowledgement of the fact that many of these rebels, and presumably a majority of the leadership, are Islamists to begin with.
The existence of Islamists within these so-called "nationalist" movements is being ignored by the Western media who are instead portraying these civil wars (and this is what they are) as noble stratagems aimed at establishing democratic rule in what were previously Islamic dictatorships. Nothing could be further from the truth. Remember how far into modernity "democratic elections" propelled the Palestinians of Gaza: Muslim voters there elected--by a majority vote--the terrorist entity Hamas to rule over them. I foresee the Islamists being transitioned into power by a similar Muslim "majority vote," in places like Syria and Libya and Egypt, etc. This is how "democracy" works in the Muslim world: the only freedom acquired in these types of elections is the freedom to practice extremist Islam at the expense of all other faiths and freedoms.
One has only to study the recent history of the Muslim Middle East in order to understand how "political reform" movements begin and end in that part of the world. Martin Gilbert recounts in his book Israel that during the 1950s alone, General Ali Razmara of Iran was assassinated by Islamic fundamentalists, Lebanese Prime Minister Riad Bey e-Solh was assassinated by a Syrian extremist national group, King Abdullah of Jordan was assassinated by a Palestinian extremist, and King Farouk of Egypt was deposed by his own army officers. I cannot see how this Arab Spring of the 1950s is any different than the Arab Spring now unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa. Both display the same "images of violence and hostility." Western journalists like to pretend, I guess, that the many years passing between then and now have seen great changes in the way politically motivated Muslims of the Middle East articulate their opposition to ruling heads of state. For the Islamists, however, this opposition is merely their "vote" for extremist Islam, as opposed to any measure of not only Western style democracy, but also any measure of "nationalist" sentiment. As Neil J. Kressel points out, "The Islamic solution is a time honored one. As nearly all analysts have noted, present-day fundamentalists can cite a long history of revivalism when things go awry." Or as Bernard Lewis puts it, "There is a recurring tendency in times of crisis, in times of emergency, when the deeper loyalties take over, for Muslims to find their basic identity in the religious community; that is to say, in an entity defined by Islam rather than by ethnic origin, language, or country of habitation." Fatima Mernissi of Morocco, a political and theological scholar, presciently remarks that "the break with the medieval state, which used the sacred to legitimize and mask arbitrary rule, never took place in the Arab world."
The truth of the matter is, sadly, that nothing has changed in the way most Muslims of the Middle East (and beyond) voice their opposition to those whom they believe are unacceptable to their personal political and religious beliefs. King Abdullah was murdered because he admitted publicly to his admiration for how the Jews of Israel had "colonized the sand dunes, drawn water from them, and transformed them into a paradise." Anti-Jewish hatred has been prevalent in every "Arab Spring" simply because anti-Jewish hatred is one of the primary driving forces of Islam. A king or a prime minister or a dictator is not a good Muslim if he does not hate Israel and the Jews vehemently; nor are they good Muslims if they even hint at an approval of the existence of the State of Israel in the Middle East. This would be contrary to the Islamic polity these Islamists are gunning for in their civil wars.
One does not need to be an expert to know that this present Arab Spring is not a salubrious occasion for the Western world. Already we hear that the Libyan rebels refuse to extradite the notorious "Lockerbie bomber." Libya's National Transitional Council's Justice Minister defiantly told reporters in Tripoli that "Al-Megrahi has already been judged once and he will not be judged again." This is an example of the present Arab Spring: known terrorists are become Islam's heroes; the Western powers that assisted the rebel cause will again be referred to in their newspapers as so much filth because of the chaos that is sure to follow our withdrawal from the conflict (as happened in Iraq after the American-led invasion there). The same bloody disaster will repeat itself in Syria, even if Assad refuses to relinquish leadership of the country. At least Assad is honest enough to admit that Islamists are behind the "Arab Spring" now gathering momentum in his country, that the protestors are not just a bunch of young, idealistic and politically motivated university students.
The Arab Spring taking place in Syria and Libya and Egypt and beyond is an Islamist revival and nothing more. There will not be any good or any democracies come of this so-called revolution. There will be, however, a greater potential for Islamist terrorists attacking Western civilian targets. Beware an Arab Spring!
What is always impossible for me to comprehend is the fact that Muslims of all nationalities--even those raised in Western democracies--are much less bothered by the deaths of innocent bystanders who happen to get in the way of Muslim protesters than they are of someone drawing cartoons or making movies about the Prophet Mohammed; they are sensitive to little things, like cartoons or tasteless movies mocking their endlessly eventful religion, yet are insensitive to murder and bloodletting on any scale.
I believe Israel is on the verge of being destroyed by enemies more focused on her destruction than are Israel's friends focused on her survival: time to drop the meaningless discussions about impotent political tripe and, instead, focus our attention also on the uniqueness of the Jewish people--virtuous peculiarities that have not only distinguished them from all other peoples but have also deftly aided them in surviving their brutal enemies; time to concentrate on the necessity of ensuring a Jewish presence in this world, without which, as I believe, the non-Jewish peoples of the earth would descend into a darkness of cruelty and outright anarchy.
The journalist Richard Cohen has written, "The Arab world is the last bastion of unbridled, unashamed, unhidden and unbelievable anti-Semitism. Hitlerian myths get published in the popular press as incontrovertible truths. The Holocaust either gets minimized or denied....How the Arab world will ever come to terms with Israel when Israelis are portrayed as the devil incarnate is hard to figure out." This anti-Jewish hatred intoxicating the Muslim Middle East today, however, did not begin with the Third Reich shrilling it into the Arab air waves from radio stations in Berlin but from the pages of the Koran and the many "hadiths" following afterward.
No Western power is going to give credence to Israel's arguments against a two state solution (which would be nothing short of an Islamic "Final Solution" for the Jews of Israel) if they are moved in any measure by the slander and delegitimization being shouted from the rooftops by those Christian propaganda machines I mention above. No purchase of truth will be made regarding this pressing matter so long as Presbyterian and United Church clergy are burrowing underneath to bring down the Torah-prescribed ideal of Zionism.
Definition: King's Calendar Chronological Research
The Premise: Between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE (but continuing down to at least 104 BCE), Sectarian redactors transcribed the legitimate 'solar year' chronological records of Israel and Judah, into an artificial form, with listed years as each comprised of 12 months of 4 weeks of 7 days, or 336 days per year, thus creating a 13th artificial year where 12 solar years existed.
When the Synchronous Chronological Data provided in the Books of Kings and Chronicles for the Divided Kingdom Period are measured in years of 336 days, the synchronisms actually align. [Refer to Appendix 5. to see how it synchronises the Divided Kingdom Period]
About the KingsCalendar Publisher
R.P.BenDedek is the owner and Editor of KingsCalendar.com which was originally set up to publicize his research results into the Chronology of Ancient Israel. Those results were published under the title: 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran'.
Whilst there have been many attempts to solve the chronological riddle of the Bible's synchronisms of reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah and their synchronism with other Ancient Near Eastern Nations, no other research is based on a simple mathematical formula which could, if it is incorrect, be disproved easily. To date, no one has been able to dismiss the mathematical results of this research.
Free to air Academic articles set forth Apologetics for and results of his discovery of an "artificial chronological scheme" running through the Bible, Josephus, the Damascus Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Seder Olam Rabbah.
During the current economic downturn, this book has been drastically reduced in price but will eventually rise as the economy improves.
Check the Chapter Precis Page to see details of each chapter and to gain access to the Four Free to Air Chapters
R.P. BenDedek writes social commentaries and photographic 'Stories from China' both at KingsCalendar, and as a contributing columnist at Magic City Morning Star News in Maine USA.
(He has been teaching Conversational English in China since 2003 and currently (2013) is teaching in Suzhou City Jiangsu Province.)
General formula for Biblical Data conversion:
The formula for constructing the artificial calendar was:
'X' times 364 equals 'Y' days'Y' days divided by 336 equals 'Z' artificial years.Values are:'X' = any given number of 'real/solar' years364 = perceived days in the sectarian calendar'Y' = number of days calculated336 = number of days in an artificial year'Z' = artificial years = 1.083'X' and represents the original number of the converted years plus 8%.To reverse the process by hand:'Z' years times 336 equals 'Y' divided by 364 equals the Number of 'X' years converted.
To see how effective this method is, SEE:Appendix 5:Diagrammatic Reconstruction of Israelite History from 936 to 586 BCE:
The Principle of Linear Causality
The King's Calendar is a very simple approach to Biblical Chronology. It substitutes a value of 336 days for every year listed in Scripture. As far as the Divided Kingdom is concerned, when you use this 336 day year value, the synchronisms actually work. To see how effective this method is, SEE:Appendix 5: Diagrammatic Reconstruction of Israelite History from 936 to 586 BCE
Because it is a mathematical system, the King's Calendar must abide by certain mathematical rules, the most important of which, is that if you change any date for any day, month, or year every other day, month, or year is effected and must also change. It's like a 'domino effect'. Chronological references cannot be 'forced' to fit, and nor can they simply be ignored or 'compressed' as is the usual case with historians and archaeologists.
If any King's Calendar chronological determination disagrees with anything in the history books, it must argue the case as to why the history books are wrong, or why the evidence for an assertion is untrustworthy. If the King's Calendar successfully defends its' position, then the history books cannot be treated as definitive, and if the King's Calendar is 'proven' wrong, then every other chronological reference it provides is also wrong.
Because of this, the King's Calendar Chronological Reconstruction of Israel's history is unique, in that its' methodology can be scientifically (mathematically) tested and demonstrated to be either true or false. Its' chronological predictions are able to be 'proved' or 'disproved'.
Rules of Evidence Series at Kingscalendar.
Part 1. The Law, Rules of Evidence & Archaeology Part 2. The Law, Rules of Evidence & Archaeology Part 3. The Law, Rules of Evidence & Archaeology Part 4. The Law, Rules of Evidence & Archaeology
