corrente

We may be seeing a ramping up of the new Justification for Eternal War here. While both sources may seem a tad obscure, the influence of the Moonie rag should not be underestimated. And the fact that the second piece ran in no less than nine newspapers in Australia but--as far as I could find--not a single one in the US strikes me as a bit puzzling as well.

Washington (Moonie) Times

William S. Lind
Outside View Contributor

(William S. Lind, we are told, "is expressing his own opinion. He is director for the Center for Cultural Conservatism for the Free Congress Foundation." Doesn't that sound ever so much better, so more Professional and Well-Informed, than "is a daily resident of the third stool from the end of the bar at Cheers Tavern"?)

Washington, DC, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Was Ukraine's Nov. 21 presidential election stolen? Probably. Was President-elect Viktor Yushchenko legitimately elected as the country's next leader in the Dec. 26 rerun of the vote? Certainly. Would it be nice if Ukraine were a democracy? Sure. Are those the considerations that should drive American policy in the region? No.

The most important factor in U.S. policy toward the countries of the former Soviet Union ought to be our need for a strategic alliance with Russia. Geo-politically, Russia holds Christendom's vast eastern flank, which stretches all the way from the Black Sea to Vladivostok. As the remnants of the Christian world begin to wake up to the reality that Islam has resumed the strategic offensive, that flank takes on renewed importance. It is already under pressure, as events in Chechnya show all too clearly. If it collapses, Christendom will have suffered an epic defeat.

Massive snip of derogatory remarks against BushCo and His foreign policy. Normally this would be enjoyable reading no matter the source, but in this case it does matter because of this nutter's rationale:

The folly of ignoring Russia's vital interests may lead to a worst possible outcome - namely, a renewed civil war within Christendom. Three previous such civil wars in the 20th century -- World War I, World War II, and the Cold War -- have left our culture merely one contender among many, whereas a century ago it dominated the world. A fourth such conflict, in the form of a revived cold war, would truly be a gift from Allah to the warriors of the Prophet. Christendom would spend what little energy it has left fighting itself.

Yeah, I know...ewwww. Didn't "Christendom" as a description of a group of nation-states whose common religion overrode their numerous other differences of interest rather go out of style about the time of the Children's Crusade? Yeah, that's what I thought, until I ran across this today:

(via Sydney AU Herald-Sun)

TRAILBLAZING ideologue Newt Gingrich, who engineered the 1994 Republican takeover of the US House of Representatives, may run for president in 2008, to fight what he calls "an Islamist insurgency against the modern world".

He also spoke today about a need to centre US society around religious values formulated by "our Creator".

The mid-sized tome promotes what is being described as Mr Gingrich's vision of America's greatness in the 21st century, including his plan for winning the war on terror, re-establishing God in American public life, reforming the underfunded Social Security pension system, restoring patriotism and making US health care more accessible...[snip]

According to the former speaker, between 39 million and 52 million young men - out of a total of 1.3 billion Muslims around the world - could become available to Islamist recruiters as the war on terror grinds on.

Because of that, he predicts, the fight could continue for the next 20-25 years at best, or drag on for several centuries, as did the Catholic-Protestant wars during the Reformation and Counter Reformation.

The common assumption was that Newt could not mount a comeback in the modern Republican party because of such minor moral lapses as serial adultery, serial divorce, and the charming incident of him serving one previous wife with divorce papers while she lay in a hospital bed recovering from cancer surgery. But, as Dear Leader has proved, With A Carefully Timed Religious Conversion All Things Are Possible. And a heapin' helpin' of pompous pious platitudes don't hurt none neither.