Word of the day

Caliphate – an Islamic state led by a caliph, a political and religious leader who is a successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and whose power and authority is absolute; the office or jurisdiction of a caliph.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 25th, 2015 at 4:30 pm and is filed under language. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

8 Responses to Word of the day

  1. robertguyton's avatar robertguyton says:
    25/02/2015 at 8:20 pm

    Chris Trotter reports that Key behaved as though he believes “his power and authority is absolute” –
    ” THE PRIME MINISTER’s conduct in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon was disgraceful. It is doubtful if any of John Key’s predecessors have ever displayed such contempt for the dignity of their office. Shouting across the chamber in a manner which has been described, with considerable justification, as unhinged, Mr Key looked and sounded like someone on the verge of unleashing physical violence.

    “Get some guts! Join the right side!”, the Prime Minister screamed at the Opposition benches – as if it was an argument.

    What happened then was, if anything, even more unnerving that John Key’s out-of-control demagoguery. As he dropped, exhausted, into his seat, the Prime Minister’s colleagues leapt to their feet, roaring and clapping.

    Watching them on television, it was difficult not to mentally superimpose upon the screen the 1930s black-and-white footage of thousands of ecstatic Germans hoisted to their feet by the frenzied ravings of the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler. If those National Party MPs had stretched out their right arms and begun chanting “Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!”, it could not have been any more outlandish than the Prime Minister’s own conduct.”

    http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2015/02/sharpening-stick-at-both-ends-lord-of.html

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  2. Andrei's avatar Andrei says:
    25/02/2015 at 8:37 pm

    What is today Iraq was part of the Ottoman Caliphate until the British carved off as part of their spoils after WW1

    The lines on the map that represent Iraq bear no resemblance to any historical or demographic cohesion but were drawn to suit British purposes in the immediate post war period which were the transport of the oil of Mosul in the North of what was them called Mesopotamia to the sea ports in the South.

    Just a brief history lesson as we prepare to send our young men off to help regain Mosul for the Western Powers using the doctrine of the White Man’s burden

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  3. JC's avatar JC says:
    25/02/2015 at 9:55 pm

    “Watching them on television, it was difficult not to mentally superimpose upon the screen the 1930s black-and-white footage of thousands of ecstatic Germans hoisted to their feet by the frenzied ravings of the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler.”

    That would be about right. However what Trotter and RG have done is look down the wrong end of the telescope..

    In 1939 the future Mrs Ruth Key was an Austrian Jew. In 1938 the Jewish population in Austria was 181,882.. in 1942 it was down to between 2-5000.

    In desperation Ruth’s aunt paid an English soldier to marry her, straight after the ceremony and papers were filled out Auntie managed to extricate 17 year old Ruth and some family from Austria (her father had died of cancer before this) to England where she joined the ATS.. the womens’ arm of the British army.

    I guess RG and friends could say Auntie was your typical shifty Jew motivated only by money and J Key inherited these traits but I’m inclined to a more charitable view.. as well as suggesting that Ruth would have talked to the Key children on the evils of Nazism and similar ideologies like ISIL that murdered people on the basis of race or religion.

    In fact I’d suggest Key as a survivor of the Holocaust once removed feels quite passionate about the staged Nazi and ISIL rallies that preceded the slaughter of the Jews in Europe and the persecution and beheadings, crucifixions and burning of other Muslims, Iraqi Christians and Yezidis; and his supporters in Parliament rose in support of the moral outrage of yet another NZ Prime Minister who opposed genocide and massacre in the world.

    For RG and his friends to invert that passion and support indicates to me a total collapse of morality and a shameless support of terrorism for political gain.

    JC

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  4. RBG's avatar RBG says:
    26/02/2015 at 7:14 am

    I agree with JC, Trotter is completely OTT comparing Key to Hitler.

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  5. Willdwan's avatar Willdwan says:
    26/02/2015 at 7:21 am

    That’s very selective Andrei, why stop with Iraq? What today is Istanbul was once Constantinople, where would Islam’s borders be now, had we not driven them back from Vienna twice, or smashed them at Lepanto and Tours, or broken the power of the Barbary Corsairs?

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  6. Andrei's avatar Andrei says:
    26/02/2015 at 9:20 am

    Will, my friend there are 1 billion Muslims that we share the planet with including my Mother in Law (cue the mother in law jokes)

    And reading various blog post and comment threads you might get the impression that they are the devil incarnate and responsible for or the ills in this sorry world.

    In fact I was responding to Robert Guytons off topic hijacking of this post with his dreadful “Hitler” and “Nazi” reference by using the Word of the day in a way that might shed some light on the complexities of the situation we are about to involve ourselves in.

    The Battle of Tours and the Battle of Kosovo Polje (which you left out because you probably never heard of it) are entirely irrelevant to the current debate

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  7. Willdwan's avatar Willdwan says:
    26/02/2015 at 11:42 am

    Cheers Andrei, you know how hard it is to keep up with these discussions when you’re working. There were plenty of conflicts I left out, consider the muslim conquest of India, 80 000 000 butchered for God’s sake! There just isn’t time to list them all, which really is my point, and is why I think they are entirely relevant.

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  8. Andrei's avatar Andrei says:
    26/02/2015 at 12:02 pm

    How many died when the British took India Will?

    The Brits famously took Muslims tied them over the muzzle of cannons and then fired them in India Will

    Actually the last reported use of this method of execution being employed by the British against Sikhs in the 1870s I believe

    These I assume were Anglican barbarities

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