The religious and cultural tensions the West faces are "payback" for slavery and colonialism, a Chinese state-run newspaper said Tuesday in the wake of the Islamist attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine.
The editorial in the Global Times newspaper — which often takes a nationalistic tone — dismissed the weekend's huge marches in Paris and elsewhere as "painkillers" that cannot halt the intensifying "clash of civilizations".
http://mg.co.za/article/2015-01-13-west-facing-payback-for-colonialism-china-paper
[Related]: http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/901536.shtml
What do you think ?
Related Stories
Officials in Xinjiang will deny benefits to children with certain Islamic or Islam-related names:
Many couples fret over choosing the perfect name for their newborn, but for Muslims in western China that decision has now become even more fraught: pick the wrong name and your child will be denied education and government benefits.
Officials in the western region of Xinjiang, home to roughly half of China's 23 million Muslims, have released a list of banned baby names amid an ongoing crackdown on religion, according to a report by US-funded Radio Free Asia.
Names such as Islam, Quran, Saddam and Mecca, as well as references to the star and crescent moon symbol, are all unacceptable to the ruling Communist party and children with those names will be denied household registration, a crucial document that grants access to social services, healthcare and education.
Muhammad, Jihad, Medina, Mujahid, Arafat, Imam, Hajj, and Yultuzay are also banned.
Also at NYT. Reuters story about other restrictions that went into effect on April 1st.
Related: West Facing 'Payback' for Colonialism, says China's State-run Paper
China's Xi Jinping Negotiates $46bn Superhighway to Pakistan
Facebook's Zuckerberg Meets With China's Propaganda Chief, Social Media Mocks Facebook Block
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 15 2015, @05:37AM
Terrorism in China [wikipedia.org]
April 2013 Bachu unrest [wikipedia.org]
China says Islamist militants kill pro-Beijing imam in Xinjiang [reuters.com]
Islamist group claims responsibility for attack on China's Tiananmen Square [theguardian.com]
Done anything to deserve payback yourselves, or are the Islamists just working off steam?
(Score: 3, Funny) by frojack on Thursday January 15 2015, @06:05AM
Exactly what I was thinking.
Chinese aren't exactly the patron saints of "Can't we all just get along".
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 15 2015, @05:43AM
And what about China and its western Xinjiang province? Is China administering "painkillers" that cannot halt the intensifying "clash of civilizations"?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/11342070/China-bans-burqa-in-capital-of-Muslim-region-of-Xinjiang.html [telegraph.co.uk]
Anyway, China is not too correct here. Most of the problems are modern issues, not related to even colonial past. As for slavery, well, Arabs were one of the major slave traders!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_slave_trade [wikipedia.org]
So please, China, gets your facts straight.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Immerman on Thursday January 15 2015, @03:52PM
Colonialism, as I understand it, need not only refer to a foreign government openly claiming new territory - it can also refer to installing puppet governments for strategic advantage and/or funneling wealth out of the country. And that applies very, very strongly to the West's involvement in the Middle East for most of the last century.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by compro01 on Thursday January 15 2015, @06:00AM
I'd say it's more like payback for shortsighted decisions made during the cold war, along with some other decisions dating back to the WW1 era.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 15 2015, @06:21AM
What you say is true, if you add, "going back centuries, and continuing through to today."
The west has been f'ing with the world for a long time, and never stopped. It really amazes me that there isn't more payback.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Thursday January 15 2015, @06:31AM
Or even back to the hayday of the British empire [thestudentroom.co.uk].
India, Pakistan, and much of the middle east were under British control or influence, (mostly without huge armies) prior to and after world war 1. And they really didn't wear out their welcome as much as they wore out their treasury.
Their big mistake, and the mistakes of the US in their wake, was extending their area of influence not with their own armies, but those of warlords, who turned into kings. Many of these guys committed more atrocities than the worst of the British or Americans.
No, Islam is at war with Islam. And even Iran [theguardian.com] is afraid of that.
We in the west are just bystanders.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday January 15 2015, @01:00PM
"Islam at war with Islam" is really really oversimplifying it.
If the Maliki government in Iraq had not been absolutely incompetent and corrupt, and the Assad government in Syria hadn't gotten itself into a civil war, ISIS would never have become as powerful as it is. Ditto for Al Qaida in Yemen. What basically happened was people trying to set up their own fiefdoms (mostly for non-religious reasons) saw an opportunity to strike and took it.
The whole Charlie Hebdo attack was almost definitely about Al Qaida in Yemen trying to regain some of its credibility among these kinds of groups by demonstrating it could attack the West.
It isn't really about Islam, and never really has been, except as convenient rhetoric in much the same way the US religious right tends to use Christianity.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 15 2015, @01:57PM
If the Maliki government in Iraq had not been absolutely incompetent and corrupt, and the Assad government in Syria hadn't gotten itself into a civil war, ISIS would never have become as powerful as it is.
There is more to it than that. Unilaterally dismissing the baathist government after we invaded Iraq was pure hubris. All those trained administrators who were only operating within the parameters of Sadam's society and not committing crimes themselves were key to keeping shit together. Without them, shit fell apart.
Putting baathist military into prison along with al qaeda prisoners was also one of the worst ideas ever since it brought together skills and fanaticism both with a grudge against the new government whoever might have been running it.
We really created a perfect storm of myopic stupidity over there.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday January 16 2015, @07:52AM
Putting baathist military into prison along with al qaeda prisoners was also one of the worst ideas ever since it brought together skills and fanaticism both with a grudge against the new government whoever might have been running it.
And for others wondering what this means, apparently ISIS was just an alliance of several "also ran" militias until they started incorporating former Ba'athists into their logistics and chain of command.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday January 15 2015, @11:34PM
It isn't really about Islam, and never really has been.
Really?
Its over thirty years too late to still be touting that theory.
That theory was wrong during the Iran Iraq war, back in 1980.
That theory was wrong during Desert Shield in 1990.
It was wrong in 2001,
Its still wrong today.
When a theory has been wrong for 34 consecutive years, its time to get a new theory.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 16 2015, @12:43PM
But the Islam those terrorists invoke is no true Islam! [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Gravis on Thursday January 15 2015, @06:24AM
i think some crap a nationalist chinese paper wrote shouldn't make headlines for a technology based news site.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by frojack on Thursday January 15 2015, @06:34AM
I think you should stop calling SN a technology based website.
Either that, or sit down and do the work of actually posting some technology based stories.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1) by BK on Friday January 16 2015, @05:25AM
At some point, new management needs to step up and clarify our purpose. I don't think it needs to be a front page story... a document with submission guidelines could serve the purpose.
At the very least, it would end the debate...
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday January 16 2015, @06:20AM
I don't think it needs to be a front page story
EXACTLY!
And our current rules and understanding allow just that. It doesn't have to even be a current issue, it can be something dredged up from the past, (we've had several of these already). It can be anything. The categories to select from, are just suggestions, and Dev Random is always available.
We have a pretty good variety, with perhaps too much concentration on CURRENT issues. But that might just be because people don't tend to read old stuff on the web, and we gravitate to newer stories.
"Management" seems to be taking a hands off approach. and I think that's be design. As far as I'm concerned there is no debate. I just don't think we need people insisting it always needs to be tech.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1) by fleg on Thursday January 15 2015, @07:42AM
from the FAQ [soylentnews.org]
Do you only want tech news?
We aim for around 70% technology and science stories with the remainder being a mix of content with general interest to our community.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday January 15 2015, @06:53PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 15 2015, @08:31AM
Thank You. This is getting so bad that /. is starting to look good. What is it with the race to the bottom that so many people,corps and orgs are obsessed with.
Also "What do you think ?" WTF kind of stupid is this! We're here to talk about what we think! I think you(all editors) need to shut up and edit and not post in the submissions! Oh and if you delete or ban me you'll .....
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday January 15 2015, @12:38PM
We don't ban individuals nor do we delete comments. Can you tell me of an instance where you believe that this happened?
You might find yourself modded down by other members of the community but, if you set your browsing level appropriately, you can see every post every made whatever score it has.
(Score: 1) by Fauxlosopher on Thursday January 15 2015, @02:06PM
So submit some stories that you find suitable and interesting. It's not that hard.
Give the editors something to edit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 15 2015, @09:54AM
what's this [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday January 15 2015, @12:51PM
They are the icons that we use to describe the story content.
I'm not sure of the point that you are trying to make but, if you are implying that the icons indicate that we are a tech-only site, then I will draw your attention to 'random', news, career and education, reviews and 'Answers' - all of which can be applied to non-technical subjects. But, I'm not sure that this is the point that you were making.....
We are a predominantly technical site but we will cover any news item submitted if we feel that there will be sufficient interest in the community to justify it. Just because an item doesn't meet everyone's idea of a good story it doesn't follow that nobody is interested. Of course, if you do prefer more technical stories then submit them rather than complain that everyone else is submitting stories that you don't like. We chose the stories from those submitted by the community.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 15 2015, @01:48PM
i think you are in violent agreement with the previous poster
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday January 15 2015, @03:53PM
I did confess to not knowing what point he was trying to make... :)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 15 2015, @07:01AM
This way we can contribute to the might of the Chinese military attack units.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday January 15 2015, @07:38AM
i think some crap a nationalist chinese paper wrote shouldn't make headlines for a technology based news site.
Famously, Leo Trotsky said, "you may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." Ah, I only he had assumed leadership of the Russian Revolution instead of Stalin! But that is not important now. Do you like Gladiator movies? [I think, through vague clouds of memory, that this is a reference to the first "Airplane" movie, but I will have to claim Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.] So should we ignore this because it is a) nationalist, or b) Chinese, or c) a paper. I am confused by your refusal, based on the reasons you give. Imperialist running dog of capitalist hegemony, you!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 15 2015, @03:49PM
I think he means we should ignore it because it's 9) crap. (*)
(*) Using "9" because it precedes "a" in the hexadecimal digits, there's nothing preceding "a" in the alphabet, and in the quote the word "crap" comes before the word "nationalist" which you've already assigned the letter "a".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 15 2015, @07:47AM
With all that colonialism China is pulling in Africa in recent times.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 15 2015, @02:32PM
Especially with all the ethnic-cleansing the Chinese government has historically participated in and currently participates in: Tibet, East Turkmenistan, Inner Mongolia, Malaysia, etc. As well as the current colonialism in Africa.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by kaszz on Thursday January 15 2015, @07:57AM
Getting rid of oil dependence will go a long way to rip the financing of states that perhaps should not have much funding. And it will force some to establish meritocracy or perish. Most of all it will remove a good reason to be in these conflict regions at all and benefit the global climate.
It can also be an effect of that Islam get in conflict easily with their surroundings. Combine that with easier transport and communication and the conflict spreads along with it. Many immigrants in west isn't assimilated but rather separate societies which may then come in conflict with the host country.
(Score: 3, Informative) by fnj on Thursday January 15 2015, @08:24AM
It's not a "clash of civilizations". It's a clash of a pack of rabid hyenas against all civilization.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 15 2015, @10:11AM
Indeed, it's like saying those 15.1% of US below the poverty line [wikipedia.org] were engaged in a "civilization clash" with the 1% back in 2011 [wikipedia.org].
As you said: rabid hyenas.
(Score: 2) by zeigerpuppy on Friday January 16 2015, @01:22AM
Give any man a gun, a mind full of simple ideas and a dash of hate and see how quickly he resembles a hyena.
War is war, the strategies of the western countries that started these wars don't look very civilised to me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 16 2015, @03:53AM
What happyland do you live in that has never taken part in a war?
(Score: 1) by Zappy on Thursday January 15 2015, @09:26AM
No.
It is not like the Arab, or Chinese did not have, slaves, or colonialism.
We in the "West" are more conscience of our past in relation to *current* ethic norms.
Christianity has had a head start of half a millennium, we have had our iconoclasm and inquisitions. They are just starting. It is vere fortunate it is, for now at least, a very small minority.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bradley13 on Thursday January 15 2015, @10:28AM
It has nothing to do with colonialism, and more to do with the West's willingness to accept refugees from the Middle East and Africa. This is kind-hearted of the West, but carries with it a danger.
The problem is that all cultures are not equal. In particular, a culture where you abuse women and kill people who disagree with you - such a culture is fundamentally incompatible with Western culture. Refugees can choose to assimilate and abide by Western values; indeed, this should be a prerequisite. Refusal to accept the value of the country you wish to live in should be clear cause for deportation.
France has a particular problem, in that is has allowed non-assimilated immigrants to establish a multi-generational island culture within France. Many of the disaffected, islamistic youth in France were born and raised there. Even if France had the will, there is no way that they can deport their own, native-born citizens.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by WizardFusion on Thursday January 15 2015, @11:23AM
Exactly. It amazes me the number of people that emigrate to England and can't speak a word of English.
If you are going to live somewhere, learn the sodding language.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 15 2015, @02:10PM
I hope you are never forced to emigrate to, say, China!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday January 16 2015, @07:58AM
I hope you are never forced to emigrate to, say, China!
Yea, he'd have to eat his own dogfood and learn Mandarin which is completely impossible for anyone to do. That would show him!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 15 2015, @11:42AM
Atleast they're able to replace their current population.
The pro-woman west is not able to do this.
Also despite all the wealth, men are miserable (as designed) because they are nolonger masters of young pretty girls.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Thursday January 15 2015, @04:41PM
Changing the time and place of your argument: People made exactly the same complaint about the influx of Ashkenazi Jews into New York City from around 1890-1930. The US even went so far as to force a ship full of Jews to return to Nazi-controlled territory in the 1930's. Nowadays, being Jewish in the US makes you a minority but not a likely source of trouble, and it's not like they had to abandon their culture either: Many of their descendants can speak at least some Yiddish, practice a similar form of Judaism, and work in Jewish-oriented businesses. And the rest of America benefited from that, because we got all of the ideas and labor they brought with them.
That would suggest that if France really wanted to attack the problem, they'd figure out why these youth are disaffected and attracted to the idea of fighting a war in the Middle East. The US isn't having the same problem with kids from Dearborn, MI (where there is a large established multi-generational Arab community), so it's likely that there is something France is doing or failing to do for these youth. If I had to hazard a guess, I wouldn't be surprised if they were experiencing severe job discrimination in much the same way that African-Americans do, which leads quite naturally to many African-Americans being disaffected and engaging in serious crimes.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hunchentoot on Thursday January 15 2015, @01:20PM
Folks the reason we now have the decapitators on youtube and the cartoonists getting shot is because we (as in the USA) have continued to fuel the fire of hatred for decades, mostly in the interest of oil but under the guise of democracy/national security blahblah as if anyone ever really cared about the well-being of people in that region of the world. I'm an american and I love this country but I cant deny the unpopular truth pointed out by the editorial.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 15 2015, @02:01PM
I agree, the very real fact of China's own serious problems along the same lines does not mitigate America's own failings. But it is so much easier to go full jingo than it is to face an unpopular truth.
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Friday January 16 2015, @12:37AM
"2.We ran operation desert storm to attack iran "
"Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!"
"Germans?"
"Forget it, he's rolling."
(Score: 2) by zeigerpuppy on Friday January 16 2015, @01:18AM
How can people be so naive as to think that the wars we started will tidily stay in the boundaries we defined.
We send hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the centre of the middle east, killed thousands of women and children as well as a goodly proportion of the young men.
We destroyed their farms, their water infrastructure and their civil services. We tried to steal their oil and subvert their industries.
So we are embroiled in the most viscious of wars.
Now why should we be surprised when occasionally that war comes home.
If we continue to ignore our own barbarism it will be very much in our faces more and more.
Always remember that terrorism kills less people that motor vehicle incidents (by far) and falling furniture (by some estimates).
To understand this war we need to follow the money, the ideals are quickly cast aside and the raw terror of what we have done to these people becomes evident.
I'm not saying I support the reactions of the most radical elements of the middle east resistance but I do think we have created this desperate state of affairs and would be wise to seek an end to our aspirations of theft and control. But the pot has been stirred and no amount of rhetoric will appease those who have seen their children, parents, brothers and sisters killed by our troops and our bombs and by starvation and disease as the consequence of sanctions.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Thursday January 15 2015, @02:40PM
Everyone does propaganda, this is simply an example of China pushing theirs. See, if they can point the finger at the West for colonialism, then they can better draw attention away from the Han colonization of Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Tibet, and Yunnan. Most people outside China and East Asia don't know that, but Beijing is still in the process of assimilating large swathes of territory comprised by its national boundaries. And it's only since 1988 that Mandarin was the official language: most of the country speaks dialects of Chinese that are mutually unintelligible (that's why when you watch Chinese programs they're always subtitled in characters, so that Fukkienese, Cantonese, Shanghainese, etc speakers will understand). Then there's the whole North-South divide that has been more, or less, formal throughout the Middle Kingdom's history. And city vs. countryside, where 90% of Chinese still live.
So to keep a lid on all that, Beijing uses the West, frequently the Japanese, and basically all the barbarians on the fringe (translation: all the rest of us) as an eternal enemy/threat, in much the same way that we use terrorism these days, Russia uses us, and Israel uses Iran and Hamas.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 16 2015, @03:35PM
90% live in the countryside?
Tone it down a bit and more people may take you seriously...
(Score: 2) by arslan on Friday January 16 2015, @01:11AM
Wow, this article is one giant troll feed... and there seems to be a lot of bites! The iron regime in China will do anything to brainwash and obfuscate reality for its masses, this is just another example. Reacting to it is like reacting to an asylum ward escapee...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 16 2015, @03:32AM
F'n idiots. I laugh every time some shit for brains says that. Slavery has been around longer than written history.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 16 2015, @04:22AM
Um China?
While you're getting all high and mighty about Slavery, you might want to check whether your house is made of glass. How's your human rights record these days?