Posts by Juha Saarinen
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No prize for guessing the most common topic of Cook's stories...
Wonder how this will end? Sharon Shipton says quite unequivocally that she didn't speak to Cook. However, Cook's story says the HoS received a statement from Shipton, and it has direct quotes from her.
I think the HoS needs to say something here as clearly one of the parties isn't telling the truth.
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I think instead you'd be looking at even more deaths through increased sectarian violence, then a proxy war between Sunni and Shi'a states that'll likely escalate into a direct conflict in Iraq.
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You'd have to look at which country has more influence over islam though: is it rich Saudi Arabia, with Mecca and Medina to where muslims go on pilgrimage, and which funds mosques around the world (including NZ). Or, is it poor and populous Indonesia?
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Tenets, not fundie tenants please...
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What about man down though? Or woman up? Don't be so like that one heh?
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"Man up"? Wot dat?
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Yes yes... I thought your definition of secular was "turn the other cheek to religionists while wearing a short skirt gazing at ladyboys" or something. It's not easy all this intarweb debating.
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Simon makes a salient point there: it's a little bit hard to hold up one's part of the world as a model when there's only a thin veneer of tolerance there.
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No, seriously. Atatürk actively suppressed Islam - he banned expressions of it like headscarves in public and in school for instance. The ban is still in place, and you don't get to wear them on your driver's licence picture or ID card either.
He wanted to build a secular, modern and democratic Turkey, distinct from what he saw as the backward, Islamic Ottoman Empire. Just like catholicism is Rome's last claim to fame, the Turks aren't stupid and realise that much of Islam is just Arab imperialism cloaked as religion, which is one reason Atatürk ditched Arabic script in Turkey.
Besides, suppressing islam makes for better food. Mmm... ekmek, meze ile raki istiyorum...
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Well, homosexuality isn't legislated against in Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt either. That doesn't seem a good measure of liberalism or even protection against repression.
Agh, another Wikipedia reference. Sorry. I agree though: why on earth would homosexuality feature as a problem, in Indonesia especially?
And Simon.... ladyboy-spotting? Not going troppo already?
Turkey is probably the most liberal and tolerant of muslim-majority countries, courtesy of Kemal Atatürk actively suppressing Islam.