http://www.americanthinker.com/comments.php?comments_id=4357 Beleagured by the forces of Jihad
Bookworm draws an interesting <http://bookwormroom.blogspot.com/2006/02/national-character-is-destiny.html > comparison: Denmark today and Constantinople in 1453. The parallels are not exact, but one thing that matches is that disunity among western countries strengthens Jihad. You know the story: a lone, mostly Western country is surrounded by hostile Islamic nations. One of those nations, known for its aggression, announces that it intends to take over that lonely Western country, and that it has the arms and the technology to do so. The Western country looks to Europe for aid. The European nations, however, because of their essential hostility to the Western nation, and their need for the Islamic nation's product, stumble over themselves to say little and do nothing. Israel and Iran, right? Wrong. I'm talking about the Ottoman state and Constantinople, circa 1453. That, of course, was the year Constantinople, the Byzantine capital of Eastern Christianity for a thousand years fell to the Ottomans. It marked the creation of Istanbul, and the beginning of the incredibly powerful Ottoman empire. The battle for Constantinople didn't come out of the blue, though. Mehmet II, the Ottoman Sultan, let everyone know his intentions in advance ("I've got nukes and I'm not afraid to use them"). Facing this threat, the Greeks in Constantinople sought aid from Europe. The relationship was somewhat fraught, though, because of religious differences between Eastern and Western Christianity. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/