define: 'Western civilisation'

The basic rebuttal here Amir being that it is quite possible to hold the
position / world view of holding out equal condemnation for war machines
from the air as for conflict and violence on the ground.

I simply can't see clean hands in the fighting.

'Western civilisation' is under attack from mass surveillance in the west.
A march of totalitarianism that is already here.

So - we do the ideas of freedom and liberty re-establish?

Keep your views, life and work flowing Amir.. you enrich the conversation
and act for material change.

Julian Smith
Melbourne Bitcoin Technology Center

On Thu, May 28, 2015 at 10:21 PM, Amir Taaki <genjix@???> wrote:

> ISIS last year made a shock advance that conquered 2 states within
> months establishing the world's first terrorist state tearing holes in
> the narrative that "everything is under control". After a period of
> calm, so-called experts started proclaiming that ISIS is finished. The
> group exhausted, their collapse imminent and normality will soon be
> re-established.
>
> And yet suddenly within a day, they took both the Iraqi province of
> Abadi and the Syrian city of Palmyra. Now they are well on the way
> advancing towards the core Syrian territory of Damascus.
>
> Everyday on the war front, American planes are flying missions raining
> explosive death from the air. The ground shakes, windows blow up from
> miles away and all night long the sound of machines guns make a
> continuous hum. Yet among this rain of death, the tenacity of ISIS not
> only clings on, but thrives growing its tentacles. There is a hidden
> power driving this machine.
>
> Anyone who studies what ISIS says, will see the clarity in their words
> and the beauty with which they interweave past and present waxing poetic
> about destiny. The actions of the organisation might seem random and
> often pointless, even self-contradicting but the motive that drives the
> individuals is very focused and consistent.
>
> The fall of the Soviet Union, marked the ideological victory of state
> capitalism. Communism was vanquished. Capitalism had proved itself as
> the one true ideology. A new age was supposed to dawn. A new age of
> apathy and rejection of politics drifted in.
>
> Some say the empire searched for a new threat to justify itself. I think
> it's more useful to imagine it expanded its net to finish its quest for
> total ideological dominance and the end of history. World War 1 was
> supposed to end all wars, and the cold war was supposed to finish history.
>
> But the barbarians are flooding Rome.
>
> The anti-ideological capitalist state cannot defeat the rise of the new
> ideological movements. It was born in a different age, and it lacks the
> tools to deal with the new world.
>
> The Iraqi army armed with the best heavy weapons, well equipped,
> supported by constant US aerial bombardment and outnumbering ISIS 10 to
> 1, ran from the ideologically committed Jihadists armed only with AKs
> and explosive trucks last week.
>
> It is now ironic that we are truly seeing the defining war of our times.
> A nexus of ideologies and narratives. And in the land of al-Sham, birth
> of human civilisation, sacred land to Christians and Muslims. And it's
> here that we see anarchists, islamists, state capitalists, communists
> and nationalist dictators fighting each other backed by an axis of
> liberal democracies and crony oil barons led by the US against Russia,
> Iran and its various insurgent armies. This is a truly crazy crazy
> microcosm.
>
> Recently VICE did interviews with Obama and Ashton Carter about the
> Islamic State titled:
> "President Obama On The Islamic State_ The VICE News Interview"
> "The Challenge of the Islamic State_ Shane Smith Interviews Ashton
> Carter (Part 2)"
> What is striking about both these interviews was how their crippled
> analysis was no better than mine. How they are so utterly unequipped.
> They have no solution. They have no special plan. Only more of the same.
>
> I honestly think ISIS is part of our future. Whether the brand changes
> or it becomes a new group, the flavour will remain. Who knows, maybe
> even something different elsewhere. However this thing, or concept is
> not going anywhere. We are now living with cancer. Time to accept it.
>
> The Zapatista netwar which was actually a failed guerilla movement
> magnified many orders of magnitude by an internet led media campaign, is
> a notable case study. Wherever disaffected people exist, they can now
> advertise their cause. Everyone has spoken widely about the power for
> internet and swarming for demonstrations. We've heard stories about the
> new form of non-violent action powered by internet.
>
> But how many people have talked about violent action? The potential for
> swarming masses to fight wars. After all half of ISIS are foreign
> fighters attracted to the vision of recreating an Islamic Caliphate.
> Imagine how these people fight vs the soldiers looking to survive and
> get a paycheck. We're talking hundreds of thousands ready to die for a
> cause.
>
> And amongst this mess, we need to find our ideology that holds us.
> Western civilisation as we know it is finished. It cannot deal with the
> new threats it faces. It is being torn apart from inside and outside.
>
> Now is the time to continue our legacy. We must project new ideas to
> ensure our cultural survival.
>
> The more of us in this struggle, the stronger our ideas. It is the
> strength of convictions that holds us.
>
> Only our strength will give us power to defend ourselves in this new
> future.
>
> The power is within you. It always has been.
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