By Paul Roderick Gregory, Contributor The most significant geopolitical events of the past half century have been unanticipated. Not that we did not expect them, but they were supposed to happen in the distant future, not now. The North Korean regime could collapse in the same unexpected way, leaving shocked politicians, diplomats, and pundits to fend with its consequences. While it is comforting to believe that predictable rational calculation and self interest determine the course of human events, the most significant changes in the world order are heavily influenced by chance, personalities, emotions, and miscalculations. We expect the two Koreas to muddle along in a shaky equilibrium that will result in the end of the Hermit Kingdom in the distant future. A collapse of the North Korean regime in the near term would send pundits in vain searches of past writings for hints they saw it coming. Unfolding events in the Koreas and their respective mentor states, the United States and China, resemble the run ups to the collapse of communism in the USSR and Central and Southeastern Europe and the reunification of the two Germanys. Few foresaw that both would collapse as abruptly as a house of cards. The intelligence community did not foresee the end of the USSR – an intelligence failure greater than its weapons-of-mass-destruction fiasco. Likewise, it will likely categorize the near-term collapse of the North Korean regime as a “highly unlikely” outcome. The “fundamentals” explain why regimes change and collapse, but they tell us less about the all-crucial “when.” If the Soviet and East Germany political and economic systems had been sound, they would be with us today. The North Korean fundamentals could not be more terrible – a closed society unable to provide its population with subsistence, but it has survived as such for decades. Mikhail Gorbachev had no intention of setting in motion events that would lead to the collapse of the USSR and its client states. His goal was to repair the Soviet system not end it. Gorbachev would not have begun Perestroika had he known its consequences – one of history’s great miscalculations. Reagan was the first American President who believed that a near-term Soviet collapse was possible, and he did not hesitate to say so. It fell to Reagan’s successor, George Bush, to actually manage the disintegration of the Soviet Union, after his first incredulity wore off. The leadership of the German Democratic Republic also intended to save East-German communism with salami-sliced concessions, which kept growing larger and larger to their dismay. The East German politburo had German Chancellor Helmut Kohl as their counterpart. When the opportunity presented itself, Kohl was there with instantaneous and irreversible reunification. Kohl did not dither when the opportunity presented itself. The two Koreas represent a tinder box in search of a random spark. Both have new and untested leaders, each intent on reshaping the relationship between the two countries in their own way. Both appear unwilling to ramp down the rhetoric or be seen as caving to the
Tag Archives: American President
Video: ‘The Muslim Brotherhood Has Infiltrated Our Government; It’s Called Barack Obama’
By Daniel Noe
Mark Levin also names the few Republicans who tried to stop sending F-16s to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Muslim, Mahdi, Or Antichrist?
It should come as no surprise to those of us who read classic literature that those who make pacts with the devil eventually meet with desolation. Daniel Webster understood this, as do many preachers who stand in their pulpits and proclaim that you cannot enjoy the avails of sin for long. The pleasures, though real, are short-lived; and judgment always follows.
It seems obvious to those who watched the rise of the impertinent sham in the White House that something almost “magical” had accompanied his ascendancy, something other than his silver tongue and the ever-present teleprompter. How could an unknown with no track record for accomplishing anything of significance ascend to the Mt. Everest of power in our known universe?
These are questions that will likely persist for some years; until then, it is obvious to all but his most devoted followers that something has changed dramatically in the sphere of President Barack Obama since 2008. As though an angel had pulled the plug, we have seen an increasingly bumbling, fumbling shlub on the campaign trail. From time to time, Obama has waxed almost incoherent, a departure from his tightly-scripted, messianic oratory of 2008 and his cool, collected, “don’t you wish you were me?” presence.
In a less corrupted environment, this would bring Obama’s detractors almost pure joy. Instead, we have the feeling in the pit of our stomachs that ultimately, inevitably, this is a fraud sustained by those whose cravings for power and full pockets have led to their total submission to the myth that sits in the Oval Office. Though the myth is losing its lustre as the wheels of state begin to fall off, Muslims in the Middle East are showing their solidarity with Obama, just as he predicted.
Why have some religious leaders in the East speculated as to whether President Barack Obama might be Islam’s Mahdi, or Twelfth Imam? The prophecy of the Mahdi is, for the uninitiated, the Muslim approximation of the Jewish or Christian Messiah. He is embodied in different ways depending on the branch of Islam with which one is dealing and is of different levels of significance.
Shiite Muslim sect places the greatest stock in the Mahdi
At present, the Shiite Muslim sect places the greatest stock in the Mahdi and the entire Iranian paradigm as expressed by their leadership centers around this figure, his rise to power, and Iran’s role in bringing about his advent. This is largely the reason for their current political comportment, as they believe that fomenting an Islamic revolution is part of this process. The Mahdi, once in power, is prophesied to subjugate (read: “kill”) all remaining infidels and establish Islam in the four corners of the Earth.
Good enough. But how would Obama figure into this? Granted that some of the advertised similarities between the prophetic figure and the US president are superficial, some are not so superficial. Certain physical similarities are right on the mark (yes, they purport to know what this fellow will look like); yet others fall far off. More practically significant are the things that Obama has done during his tenure, which definitely speak to this apocalyptic prophecy.
Although some Muslims overseas are said to despise Obama with a purple passion, let us examine some of his dubious accomplishments from the perspective of the more contemplative Islamic zealot…
Obama facilitated the “Arab Spring”
Although the Western press fails to acknowledge this, it is practically common knowledge that Obama facilitated the “Arab Spring.” He’s also thrown Israel under the bus and done his level best to cripple America economically and in the areas of defense and national security.
Add to that his amity with the Muslim Brotherhood (having aided them in expanding their sphere of influence not only in the Muslim world but within the US), and you have someone who has probably garnered more support than enmity among Muslims. The only thing Obama really has going against him is having systematically taken out key al-Qaeda leaders, and this could be explained away as a matter of characteristically convoluted Muslim doctrine. How many Muslims have been killed by other Muslims via suicide attacks in recent years?
What we must understand is that the hatred the Muslim world has for the US is not rooted in national identity, practices, or culture. It is rooted in its Christianity. Christianity had its genesis in Judaism; thus they have hated us since the days of Ishmael and Hagar (his Mother) and the disrespect shown the founder of the Arab peoples. This has never been forgotten. The fact that Israel sprang from the seed of Abraham (and thus the Arabs and Jews are related) is lost in the shuffle. God promised that there would always be “enmity” between the two races; and as usual, He has proven to be correct.
Obama’s unequivocal defense of Islam at the expense of every other religion – Christianity in particular
In the time of Christ, there was a forebear of His coming. John the Baptist declared that the Jews would need to prepare; for the promised one was near. Would Obama be the Mahdi himself, or “the voice crying in the wilderness,” making the way for his appearance? One thing that has been made plain is his unequivocal defense of Islam at the expense of every other religion – Christianity in particular.
In the practical sense, our problem is indeed wrapped up in what or who Barack Hussein Obama is (or thinks he is) and why he does what he does. Is it one of today’s more complex questions, or is it as simple as a fake bringing down the most Christian nation on the planet?
Whether his “deal with the devil” has played out, or he’s simply worn out his welcome, he has proven his ability to mobilize the forces of evil, to the peril of us all.
Photo credit: SS&SS (Creative Commons)