The Arab Spring and Fundamentalist Islam?

[birdie1971]

We all cheered (?) when dictators such as Saddam Hussain and Colonel Gaddafi were disposed but did we ever stop to ask those who were doing the disposing what they wanted to stand in their stead?

[naomi24]

//Hardly surprising considering that Islam is not just a spiritual belief system – it is also a system of government.//

Exactly. I’m not sure if religious apologists are unaware of that – or whether they think that because the system is founded in religion, all negative aspects should be overlooked because the whole must be respected.

[mibn2cweus]

//Hardly surprising considering that Islam is not just a spiritual belief system – it is also a system of government.//

The question that comes to mind is whether Islam (or any religion for that matter) is a spiritual belief system for which governing is simply an afterthought or a system of government disingenuously disguised as a spiritual belief system in the hope of concealing less 'altruistic' motives.

[birdie1971]

Mibs – I think that in the case of Islam, the latter of your two scenarios is more likely than the former.

[naomi24]

^^ I agree. :o(

[David H]

I didn't cheer- trying to judge a totally different culture by our own standards is, as the prime directive says, outside our realm of influence. Arab and Muslim countries have their own history and form or totalitarian and tribal politics roughly comparable with the dark ages, and apparently virtually immune from outside influences however free the media is to access. As such then it's pretty much a standard civil war, where even the participants aren't all sure who's on their own side and what they stand for, and when one long or short term tyrant is removed you just get the same thing in a different uniform. I'd leave well alone and defend our own shores and leave others to their own fights, once you start getting involved it's a miracle if you end up saving anyone innocent without getting far more killed at the time or as a result of the changes you've helped bring about. Social evolution is clearly not transferable by mere exposure.