Re: <nettime> Palestina [5x]

[Carl Guderian <carlg@vermilion-sands.com>]

nettime's digest wrote:
> 

> Date: Tue, 09 Apr 2002 15:20:29 +1000
> From: dwayne <dwayne@pobox.com>
> Subject: press release from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
> 
> So, as I sit watching this, it occurs to me:
> 
> how terrified of the christian right wing in the US should I be right now?
> How worked up over destruction and death on the birthplace of their God are
> they likely to get?

Not very. The usual suspects--i.e., Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell,
both staunch supporters of Israel--apparently haven't had much to say.
But they're political busted flushes anyway, good for a silly quote. Be
glad this didn't happen 15 years ago, when something like this could
have escalated into full-scale nuclear Armageddon. In fact, that's
exactly what Falwell and Robertson wanted. They were egging the Israelis
on to rebuild the Temple, according to End Times prophecy. This would
have entailed destroying one of the holiest Muslim shrines, from where
(I think) Muhammad ascended bodily to Paradise. Arab nations (Syria at
least) would have attacked, Israel exercising the Samson option, then
the U.S. going toe-to-toe with the Russkies in new-cu-ler combat.
Falwell had put out a record in the 1970s, with a cover showing the
earth being consumed by fire in the background and Falwell's smug face
in the foreground. Happily, Pat & Jerry's immanentizing of the Eschaton
didn't come to anything. Except for the human tragedy, the destruction
of the Church of the Nativity would be a historical irony.

> 
> Didn't the crusades start when there was the deadly combination of surplus
> military capacity and an unsafe Holy Land?

Well, the Holy Land was just an excuse.

> 
> How organised, powerful, and angry are christians in the US, and on a global
> basis?

They're all into home-schooling and Left Behind novels now. They've even
been slack regarding assassination of abortion doctors. You just can't
count on anybody these days.

> 
> What would be the consequences of such activity on the birthplace of, say,
> Allah?

Probably what we're seeing now, but more of it. Sharon did make a lot of
noise about digging up the aforementioned Muslim shrine a year or two
ago, but I don't remember whether this was before or after the current
intifada started, or whether that made things much worse. There was
plenty of motivation already. Now, amid the suicide bombings and
indiscriminate shelling, it doesn't really matter much.

When Jesus was born, three kings busted ass to get there. Now that his
birthplace is going up in smoke, Bush has Powell taking the scenic
route.

Carl

> 
> (I know this blasphemous and impossible as far as Islam goes but I'm
> attempting to make a comparison).
> 
> waving from the happi southern hemisphere...
> 
> Dwayne
> 
> (via pravda.ru)

-- 
Happiness is the maximum agreement between reality and desire -- Joseph
Stalin

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