World View: Egypt Prepares for Massive Showdown on Friday

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• Japan considers pre-emptive military strike capability
• Burma Buddhists attempt to justify genocidal attacks on Muslims
• Egypt prepares for massive showdown on Friday
• North and South Korea fail to agree on opening Kaesong

Japan considers pre-emptive military strike capability

Shinzo Abe wants you! (Reuters)

With the reelection of the hawkish Shinzo Abe as prime minister, Japanis considering moving further away from its post-WW II pacificism.The Defense Ministry is likely to call in the report for considerationof acquiring the ability to make a pre-emptive strike when an enemyattack is imminent, and creating a Marines force to protect remoteislands such as those at the core of a dispute with China. Althoughit would take years to implement a pre-emptive strike force, merediscussion of this change in policy is certain to inflame China’snationalism. In the meantime, near-confrontations between China andJapan around the disputed East China Sea islands occur on an almostdaily basis. Reuters and AP

Burma Buddhists attempt to justify genocidal attacks on Muslims

The genocidal attacks by Buddhists on Muslims in Burma (Myanmar) inthe last year have been an enormous embarrassment to many Buddhistsbecause it’s a clear violation of the Buddhist principles ofnon-violence. (See “5-Apr-13 World View — Meiktila, Burma, violence has echoes of Kristallnacht”.)

Buddhist monks in Burma, who have been leading the genocidal attackson Muslims, have been justifying their actions on an exception to theBuddhist teaching on `ahimsa’, or non-violence, which is one of thereligion’s five fundamental precepts.

The exception is that violent acts are permitted when they are acts ofself-defense, committed with “pure intentions.”

In the case of Burma, the monks rationalize their violent acts basedon fear that the country is being overtaken by Muslims, even thoughthe country has a 90% Buddhist majority among its 60 million people,and the Muslims are about 5% of the population, many of whom are bothdisenfranchised and stateless.

According to one Buddhist scholar:

“We are deeply ashamed by the appalling treatment ofMuslims now occurring in some Buddhist countries.

Theravada Buddhists, and particularly their leaders, are betrayingthe Buddhist value of non-violence, let alone kindness andcompassion.”

From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, Buddhists are nodifferent from any other religious group. During generationalAwakening eras (like America in the 1960s), they’ll proclaim love andpeace and so forth. But in generational Crisis eras, like today,they’ll become increasingly nationalistic, increasingly willing to puttheir nationalism and ideology above individual rights, andincreasingly willing to use techniques from torture to genocideagainst real or imagined enemies.

From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, what’s clear in thiscase is that Buddhists and Muslims are headed for a major genocidalwar in Southeast Asia, and this will be a major component of thecoming Clash of Civilizations World War. IRIN (U.N.)

Egypt prepares for massive showdown on Friday

It’s Friday again, the day that Egyptians pour out of mosques aftermidday prayers to go shopping or to attend mass demonstrations. TheMuslim Brotherhood has been holding mass pro-Morsi demonstrationsevery Friday since president Mohamed Morsi was deposed in a coup onJuly 3. And the Army has issued a call for anti-Morsi demonstratorsto come out on Friday to give the military a mandate to crack down onhave each been moving to defuse tensions. The Army insisted that itwas not targeting Morsi’s backers in calling for a mass rally againstBrotherhood, Mohamed Badie, urged Egyptians to peacefully make athe other hand, Egypt’s army gave the Muslim Brotherhood untilSaturday afternoon to sign up to political reconciliation, andthreatened to use tougher tactics against the group. AFP

North and South Korea fail to agree on opening Kaesong

Early in June, The North Koreans proposed holding talks on reopeningthe Kaesong Industrial Complex. North Korea’s child dictator KimJong-un had shut down the complex in April when he threw his tempertantrum, threatening to shoot missiles at Japan, South Korea, andAmerica. On Thursday, talks between North and South Korea broke downwithout agreement. The South has been asking for the North toguarantee it won’t block operations due to non-economic reasons andcalled on the North to accept responsibility for the currentsituation. The North countered that work must begin immediately, andthat it cannot take sole responsibility for the current impasse. Thebreakdown raises the possibility that the Kaesong Industrial Complexwill never reopen. Yonhap (Seoul) and Xinhua

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