| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Has British foreign policy encouraged some young Muslims to become radicalised? | |
| Posted by: | Adrian Irving | |
| Date/Time: | 20/06/15 10:36:00 |
| 'What matters is not we think but what the people of the Middle East think.' Why? Fair question Claire. I was a bit rushed last night but now, Ramadan, the weekend = dead in the West End but I will try and keep it brief. We already know what we are thinking but until we fully understand what ‘they’ are thinking we do not know what we should be thinking. What we are thinking and what we should be thinking could well be two very different things. Two quick examples. I was talking to a well respected, intelligent Lebanese businessman when Israel were bombing the b’jesus out of Palestine. (I try to avoid politics but it’s like trying to avoid talking about the weather to an Englishman) I asked what he thought the answer was to achieving peace. I expected him to say so and so must talk to so and so etc etc. No, give Palestine F1 11 jets he said. I was a little shocked but when you think about it we have nuclear weapons to keep the peace so his reasoning was difficult to fault. Next example. The guy who runs our lettings is Syrian. His parents live in the North. They are Christian. They support Assad. IS were as near to his home town as we are to Notting Hill. He told me that the Americans were secretly supplying, at night, the IS fighters. True? I don’t know but that is what they believe so to them it is. I am pleased to report Government forces have pushed them back….for the moment. In a nutshell, there are many different versions of the truth in war and as in life and business how can we know how best to deal with a situation without knowing where everybody is coming from? Claire, I am not sure I have made it any clearer but I can hear Big Ears coming down the stairs so I have got to fly. Adrian aka Noddy ( private joke for those wondering) |