How Many States?

In physics the state of a system can be (generally) determined by the number of objects in a system and the possible states of the various objects. A state could include the velocity of the objects, their direction and speed of rotation etc. When we get lots of particles we have numbers that are state averages, things like temperature and entropy.

Which brings us to humans. Very complex indeed. Lots of possible states. When humans are relatively uncoupled - individuals acting on their own interest - you have a lot of states but the available states are fairly continuous. When you have strongly coupled individuals - tribal societies - the state space consists of a number of preferred states.

David Warren expands on this from the dimension of politics and diplomacy.

The Israeli and Western diplomatic approach to the conquest of Gaza by the psychopaths of Hamas, has been to caress and pile aid upon Mahmoud Abbas and the psychopaths of Fatah. Since the obvious objection to this shouldn’t have to be explained -- never give weapons to psychopaths, nor food unless you have them securely in custody -- let me deal with the more subtle, tactical end in view.

So far as it could have any merit at all, the idea appears to be “divide and conquer.” The reasoning goes: this is the moment to embrace Fatah, against the outwardly more radical party the Palestinians actually voted into office, to have a “peace partner” who is scared enough by what Hamas has just achieved in Gaza, to welcome our embrace. Moreover, those “moderate” Arab “states,” starting with Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are themselves aware that Hamas is, like Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, now beholden to Iran, and that revolutionary Iran is quickly becoming a bigger worry for them than Israel could ever be. Surely, under these circumstances, hay can be made. Let’s everybody who is frightened by Iran (and with cause) come to an arrangement that will subvert the ayatollahs.

It is one of those ideas, too clever by at least half, that has never worked in the Middle East, where all alliances are temporary, and no enemies are ever forgotten. The very concept of “national interest” does not exist among the Arabs. (I know that sounds strong, but it’s true.) This is not only because pan-Arabism and pan-Islamism have successively kept an alternative to the nation state alive, but because from the origin of modern Arab statehood, almost every Arab state has been almost constantly governed by a family clique. The Arab states remain today essentially dynastic, as well as essentially tyrannical. The interests being served are thus the interests of the clans -- whether Sauds, Assads, Hashemites, Mubaraks, or the others. In each case, the nation is perpetuated only as a kind of monstrous family business, and organized on the principles of the Mob.

We nevertheless persist, in the West, in thinking that we are dealing with states. Israel is a state, and we can certainly deal with it; the Americans are attempting to create proper states in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the difficulties we are encountering in the latter cases are such as we would encounter anywhere in the region.

Because the states are discontinuous the transition from one state to another is chaotic. A move from one point of stability to another is not a small increment on the curve when the change gets large enough. It means a transition to what chaos theory guys call a different strange attractor or in layman's terms a different quasi-stable state.

To make the nation state version of politics work people have to have a concept of the common good. The common good should take precedence over your brother in law.

This is a hugely disruptive change and it doesn't work totally. A look at Chicago politics will convince you of that. Still, it is the ideal. Which to some extent limits the number of hands in the cookie jar.

One of the first steps in breaking down the tribal mentality is to get honest courts so that grievances are settled by judgments enforced by the state rather than tribal blood feuds. This starts the breakdown of allegiance to the tribe. Another thing that helps is the creation of a national economy. To make that work we go back to the need for honest courts.

Civilization

Civilization is hard.

The first requirement is enough food to eat. Hungry men are hard to civilize.

The second is to act civilized. No fighting in the war room. The corallary to that is give up Tribalism.

Dropping Boxes Of Ammo And Small Arms

I had been thinking of doing a piece on the small arms trade in Gaza when commenter mdmhvonpa nudged me along with this comment to Vengeance:

Hatfields and McCoys ... swell. Perhaps we should just start dropping boxes of ammo and small arms into 'Palestine' to hurry this up.

We have a better deal going than that. They are paying for the stuff.

RAMALLAH - A loud siren wails in the main street of Ramallah as the ambulance races to the nearby hospital. The casualty inside the vehicle is a teenage Palestinian who received two bullets to his chest during clashes among rival armed militia.

In a separate incident, a number of disgruntled armed young men showered the Daraghmeh store with scores of bullets in Ramallah’s commercial district. The fire engulfed the store’s interior, resulting in losses totaling USD 450,000.

At the entrance of a well-established restaurant in the city, a big sign reads “No hand guns allowed on the premises.”

As ammunition is readily available through black market middlemen, the sounds of bullets are heard frequently across the city. In a Pavlovian response, the citizens of Ramallah run into hiding as soon as the bullets start flying, their daily life controlled by the will of the gunmen.

So what is the market like?

“In the West Bank, the weapon pipeline is the Israeli gangs. They sell their weapons to Palestinian counterparts, who in return sell them to armed groups and private customers,” the officer says.

The Israeli army spokesman replies that “this accusation is baseless.” Israel has expressed its concerns over the issue of weapon smuggling several times during meetings with Palestinian officials, he adds.

Selling weapons in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is an extremely lucrative business, because of the amount of cash they generate.

“This business is flourishing due to internal clashes; it’s simply a matter of supply and demand,” says Hamdi Al- Ashgar, owner of a jewelry store in the middle of the Gaza Strip.

“To purchase a weapon, all one has to show is interest. Arms merchants are ready to provide you with whatever you want: M16s, hunting rifles, bullets, Kalashnikovs, mortars and spare parts,” Al-Ashgar adds.”

Prices have gone down and nowadays owning a gun in the Palestinian areas is not anymore the sole privilege of the armed groups.

“You can have the famous Kalashnikov for USD 1,500, and a Chinese-made rifle for USD 1,000. While digging a tunnel in Gaza costs USD 100,000, renting one could climb up to USD 10,000 per a day,” Ashgar says.

In the Gaza Strip, nearly four out of five people are armed, whereas in the West Bank two out of five are armed with different kind of rifles and pistols, according to an officer of the Preventive Security Forces, on condition of anonymity.

I did a little searching and found a Kalashnikov for $335. Considerably below the prices charged in Gaza. Good profit indeed.

The Israelis must have trouble at those anti-smuggling meetings keeping a straight face while denouncing the smuggling.

With prices pretty much standardized there has to be a lot of competition in the market. Figuring out how much it costs to keep the civil war going is pretty much a job for accountants.

Muhammad is a young journalist working for a local radio station affiliated with Fatah. In recent weeks, he's gotten several death threats.

"In a place like Gaza, that sort of menace isn't to be taken lightly, so the station's security guards and staff are armed with hand grenades and machine guns.”

Muhammad says he carries a handgun and keeps an AK-47 assault rifle at home.

“In such a lawless context, it's normal for journalists to carry guns," he explains. "Some accuse us of pouring gasoline on the fire and fueling the confrontations between Fatah and Hamas. But I am broadcasting the problems of my society and the Palestinian street.”

In Gaza, the arms are coming from all over the world, being transported through the desert to Egypt and to Gaza through the tunnels in Rafah.

After the Israelis pulled out from the Gaza Strip, the number of tunnels for smuggling weapons and other contraband has more than doubled, evolving into an underground maze clawed out of Gaza’s soft soil.

The largely unhindered weapons influx also heightens the threat of civil war, instability, and tribalism.

There are usually about 20 tunnels in use at any one time along the border.

It is my opinion that American and Israeli policy for the Palestinians is for the time being: civil war, instability, and tribalism.

When they have had enough they will either leave or ask the Israelis to rule over them.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Vengeance

The Palestinian Civil War is going to be going on for a while if this is any indication.

GAZA, Feb 7 (KUNA) -- Dagmash family, one of the biggest Palestinian families in Gaza, has claimed responsibility for the killing of two activists from the Izziddeen Al-Qassam Brigades, military arm of Hamas, last night.

A family spokesman said "The killing was to avenge two family members killed by Al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza almost two month ago." Ahmed Dagmash told a local radio station in Gaza "The family of Dagmash claims responsibility for the killing of Mohammad Deeb Abu Kersh (Abu Musab) and Mohammad Abu Namous, two Qassam activists, for killing, in cold blood, Ashraf and Mahmoud Dagmash in the Sabra district, central Gaza, about two months ago." "Targeting the two leaders was meant to avenge our sons killed by Abu Kersh and Abu Namous," he said, threatening more acts of revenge.

This of course is a reversion to Tribalism. A condition that precludes nation building. Once the revenge killings get well underway there is no way to stop them except the extinction of families.

In terms of the larger political scene I see this as the prelude to massive migrations by the Palestinians to any place civilized.

Unfortunately they have a tendency to bring their uncivilized ways with them. That sort of behavior has gotten them kicked out of Kuwait when the Iraqis were kicked out in '91. Kicked out of Iraq When Saddam was deposed. In fact they get kicked or kicked out of a lot of places due a lack of civilized ways.

Update: 08 Feb '07 1549z

Here is a bit more on the Dagmash or Damish clan.

The Damish clan, a large family from the southern Gaza town of Khan Younish thought to be involved in organized crime, claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying it was avenging the killing of two of its members two months ago by Hamas security forces.

The opposition Fatah movement stressed that it was not involved in the overnight shooting and said the killing was not related to the armed clashes between Fatah and the ruling Hamas.

So this could have been strictly business, not politics. Swell. Just swell.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Radio Wars

It appears that the Palestinians involved in the civil war are using some pretty harsh language against each other.

The recent fighting between Hamas and Fatah did not just play out in the streets of the Gaza Strip. The rival groups also pummeled each other over the airwaves, calling each other's fighters "mercenary death squads," "child killers" and even "Zionists."

The harsh rhetoric, coupled with the stations' ability to quickly rally their armed supporters in the streets, has led to fears that the local disc jockeys could fan the flames of the recent violence into a full-blown of civil war.

"If we wanted, we could burn down Gaza," said a smiling Ibrahim Daher, director of Aksa Radio, the voice in Gaza of the Islamic militant group Hamas.

He said it with a smile. That must be a real comfort to the people of Gaza. It must be a comfort to see them call each other Zionists. So they are all against Zionists. Nice to see they have national unity on that point. Their problem is that half the Palestinians may be Zionists too and no one can decide which half. This will require some sorting out.

With a lull in the recent infighting, the radio stations have toned down as well. But with no political solution in sight, the radios may yet wage another battle.

"Radio is in every house, every car and every street. It can cause a revolution or quell one. That's a dangerous role," said Salah al-Masri, director of Al-Quds Radio, funded by the radical Islamic Jihad.

"I bet you, in a few hours, I can orchestrate a protest. The question is what kind. We can launch a protest against the Israeli occupation, or at (Abbas), or fire rockets," he said.

Think if they just applied this power to something useful. Nah. Why waste the effort even thinking about it? Not going to happen. At least not for a very long time.

AP reporter Sarah El Deeb has been covering Gaza's factional fighting, often pinned down indoors by gunfire and venturing outside during periods of lull. Here are her notes from the sidelines:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Never mind the almost daily cease-fire announcements. The music played on the radio stations of Hamas and Fatah is a much better guide to war and peace.


When both Hamas's Al Aqsa radio and Fatah's Al Shabab station played "Today is the day of rage" simultaneously a few days ago, it was pretty clear the guns would not fall silent. At times of heavy clashes, the playlists also include Islamic marching songs or odes to legendary Fatah founder Yasser Arafat.

When the two sides withdraw their forces from time to time, songs about Jerusalem are popular, as a unifying theme. Lebanese singer Fairouz is a favorite on Al Shabab, as a demonstration of secular nationalist sentiment.

Radio broadcasts also air political statements and take calls from listeners trapped at home. Trying to lower the enemy's morale, Al Shabab reported that scores of Hamas militiamen had defected. Al Aqsa Radio quickly retaliated with a similar report.

When a new cease-fire was announced Sunday, both stations broadcast the same phone number for listeners to report violations to a police operations room with Hamas and Fatah observers. They received dozens of calls on the first day. And resumed playing songs of national unity.

News reports. Reports of enemy action. Psychological warfare. Boosting morale. Sounds like American radio during WW2.

Note: I had a Palestinian report on the joint operations room in Cease Fire Holding. I also noted in that report that there were some hot heads who would not give up the fight. Murders needed to be avenged.

Here is some more on the hot heads.

After nightfall, thunderous gunfire frequently erupted outside a building housing visiting Associated Press staffers in Gaza City, with some of the shooting coming from a nearby building.

It was more than just a fight between Hamas and Fatah.

The Bakr clan, clamoring for revenge, was after the killer of a 17-year-old member, Mahmoud Bakr, who died in the crossfire last week. For four nights, dozens of masked Bakr men, armed and in black uniforms, pinned down a dozen Hamas gunmen — whom they blamed for Mahmoud's death — on a rooftop.

The fighting is increasingly about settling personal scores, and the element of revenge will make it harder to enforce a cease-fire, even if Hamas and Fatah are to reach an elusive power-sharing agreement.

The grieving father, Anan Bakr, a member of the Fatah-linked Preventive Security Service, said the battle has become personal. "In our tradition, in our religion, whoever kills must be killed, even after time passes," he said.

In It's A Family Affair I covered one blood feud. Obviously there are others. With 70 or 80 dead so far there is a lot of revenging to be done. And those revenge killings will require more killings. The Hatfields and McCoys.

Shin Bet security service head Yuval Diskin said he thought it was not in Israel's best interest to get involved in Gaza while Fatah and Hamas were fighting each other.

He does point out the devolution of the fighing from a nationalist struggle to a tribal struggle.

The major problem facing Israel in the territories, Diskin believes, is the collapse of government in the PA. This is particularly evident in the Gaza Strip, where "there is a return to the clan. Clan loyalty is now more evident than loyalty to any group."

The clan influence, Diskin said, is directly linked with the desire to seek revenge for the dead from the recent internecine clashes, and it poses an obstacle to reaching a cease-fire, even if the leadership of Fatah and Hamas appears to be interested in an accord.

This return to Tribalism and the unwavering desire for Israel's destruction which Diskin also goes into, portends a future of fighting for the Israelis. With any kind of luck the Palestinians will destroy their own societies without much direct military help from the Israelis.

Politicobiology

Commenter passerby took exception to some of the things I said in The Origins Of Islamic Rage. Here is my reply to his question about the rise of tribalism in the west. I don't actually answer his question (directly), but I do look at what I consider a subset of sociobiology - politicobiology.

===

As long as we are human we will have the alpha male problem.

If you look at human history - freedom is not much in evidence. No matter how desireable for the individual it is unusual. It takes effort.

Tribalism is the natural state of humankind. It is what you would expect from genetics. The closer the genetic connection, the more trust given to the individual.

A place or a world where Jewish/Christian values predominate is a better world in my opinion. "All men are created equal" is an anti-tribalist statement. However, it is not natural. The Islamics are correct. Their system is more in accord with humans as they exist in a state of nature.

As to the sexual theories etc. You need to look into my work on PTSD. Start with:

Heroin

PTSD and the Endocannabinoid System

Men with PTSD are more prone to violence than men without. Sexual assault on children is a good way of creating a person with long term PTSD problems (providing the genetics are correct).

If violence against children is endemic, you then have a resevoir of angry males for jihad. i.e. some one has to pay for the torment of the individual. Since we are genetically biased against looking at the evil of our parents it then must be ascribed to some outside source.

When we start getting the connection between biology and politics (monkey politics) we will get better political systems.

When Kissenger said "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac" he wasn't kidding. That is only one example of the relation between biology and politics.

Sociobiology is more or less accepted. What I am looking at is a subset of that. Politicobiology. Thus, power and control.

My recent piece on drug prohibition It Was Never About The Drugs is another example of NORMAL human behavior. Dividing the ins from the outs.

Or try How To Put An End To Drug Users. Which discusses (in a round about way) how the impulse for genocide is wired into the human system. It discusses how that wiring is activated.

So near to the gods. So close to the devils. Between heaven and hell.

Why? Because, Power and Control gives a reproductive advantage.

Politicobiology explains why there will always be an opposition party. It is the way we are wired.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Pessimism in Palestine

Commenter Paul gave a link to a story on a Palestinian's look into the future.

Issa Kakaki, a Fatah legislator from Bethlehem, addressed his newspaper article to "Mr. Earthquake expert" and asked for a strong earthquake, "at least seven degrees, accompanied with a tsunami to hit this land as soon as possible.

Here is why he thinks only an earthquake and tsunami will fix the Palestinian's problems:

"I do not exaggerate when I say that I am afraid of the newspaper or the daylight.... Civil wars are in the horizon, starvation also. These are our news, and this is our reality... We are people who do nothing except issue statements and accusations, and the clans clash and then we solve these clashes and differences."

Do I note a lack of national unity here?

Seven Women to be Stoned to Death

Iran is at it again. Eteraz reports:

This is a call for action to do our small part in coming to the assistance of the women in Iran who have been sentenced to death by stoning.

1. Read the background and an explanation of the punishment for stoning to death in Islamic Law.

2. Realize that crimes against chastity in Iran are a pervasive problem by going to the website of one of the leading Iranian-American activists. There you may watch a detailed 48 minute documentary about a woman executed for a crime against chastity.

Eteraz' post is full of links and e-mail addresses of the Iranian leadership. Go read the whole thing.

This is just another example of Islamic Tribalism.

H/T Winds of Change.

Gitmo Nurse Speaks About Gitmo Detainees

Patterico via Powerline has a great set of posts up about an Army Major "Stashiu" who was a nurse at Gitmo. Stashiu is not his real name. He has had death threats and is trying to lower his profile a little.

The first post (linked above) is about Stashiu's bondafides and why he won't talk to the media.

So why did Stashiu agree to speak with me? After all, hadn’t journalists visited Guantánamo? He told me that, of course, they had. So I asked him: why not give his story to Big Media? He said:

I don’t trust them to factually report anything I say. I’ve read you and trust you.

The suspicion of Big Media is, unfortunately, all too common nowadays.

Stashiu explained that he is not writing a book or looking to hit the talk show circuit, and he reiterated in forceful terms his disdain for Big Media.

In an update at the bottom of the first post Patterico says:

UPDATE x2: Stashiu tells me he has been contacted by a member of the media. He has not responded and does not intend to respond. He has asked me to update the post and request the media not to contact him further, as he does not intend to speak to the media.

For a plain statement that is pretty vicious.

In Part Two Stashiu details his extensive talks with inmates (it was part of his job as a psychological services nurse.

Many (probably most) speak at least some English, some are quite fluent. Some learned in Cuba from other detainees or from talking with guards and translators. Almost without exception though, they will ask for an interpreter at some point. Sometimes it is to try and pry information from the interpreter. Other times it is to avoid answering an uncomfortable question, for whatever reason. Plus, any time they go through an interpreter, they can claim that they were misunderstood due to faulty translation. The concept of reasonable doubt does not hold much sway for them, people are believed or disbelieved more for the relationship between the two people more than any affection for the truth.

Which points up the esentially Tribalist nature of our enemies.

Patterico asks Stashiu "what are the detainees like?"

For many of them, think Ted Bundy. Educated, charming, and without conscience for those they consider infidels. Some are truly ill and were taken advantage of because of it. For example, one routinely asked us for an explosive suicide vest so he could assassinate Osama Bin Laden or George Bush for us, whoever he could find first (he was completely serious).

Not what you would consider first rate army material.

Which brings up an interesting aside. The Power Line guys are reporting that the Iraqi insurgents are having trouble recruiting.

Know that we, like all the mujahidin, are still weak. We are in the stage of weakness and a state of paucity. We have not yet reached a level of stability. We have no alternative but to not squander any element of the foundations of strength, or any helper or supporter.

So they have to take whatever help they can get. That is not a sign of an orgaization on the way up. It is a sign of an organization in decline.

Patterico then goes on to tell us a bit about human nature Stashiu discussed:

But, he explained, it was nevertheless his job to get detainees to open up and share their thoughts, simply for their psychological health. Stashiu did that in many ways, one of which was to appear to disclose things about himself. If you appear to share things about yourself, he told me, the human inclination is to reciprocate. This is something he was taught when he learned about human psychology, and it works.

Just ask any good sales person. We love to dish.

Patterico then asked Stashiu how the detainees think the war is going. (The long view is very evident).

In my opinion, most of them are sincere in their belief they will win for the following reasons:

a. They are told they are assured of victory by their religion. They are raised with the belief that Islam is destined to become the dominant way of life for this planet. No matter how long it takes, it is inevitable. Once Islam is supreme, there will be no war, crime, poverty, or need. These are frequent talking points every Friday in the mosques.

b. Their leaders consistently stress that jihad is working and our culture is a hollow shell. They point to VietNam, Somalia, 9/11, Madrid (both the bombings and the elections immediately following), and the anti-war propagandists here in the United States. . . . The jihadists are constantly told that America is weak-willed and will turn and run if they can be inflicted with enough damage and peace can be delayed long enough.

c. They believe they are more committed to victory at any cost because it is all in God’s name and is the Will of God. They point to our efforts at minimizing both our own casualties and those of civilians. You never see them worry about collateral damage and destroying infrastructure. They see our compassion as weakness and our integrity as blindness to reality.

Another example of tribalist values. The other has no value.

The answer to that of course is that "we are all Gods children". The antithesis of tribalism. If you haven't read about the Tribalist values follow the link above and read it because I show how the "we are all Gods children" Judeo/Christian ethos leads to civilization and how tribalism leads to barbarity.

There is much more plus Parts III, IV, and V. All linked in Part One. Read it all.

No Excuses for Terror

Commenter Paul pointed me to this video at Harry's Place. I haven't checked it all out but the start is very good.

It is a look at the leftist support for Middle Eastern Tribalism. Or as the guy in the video put it: "We are all Hizballah now". i.e. a repudiation of all the left stands for (except for the overthrow of the established order). The Soviet Union is gone and the left needs a new champion.

Harry's Place belongs to the Euston Manifesto left.

Even if you don't have broadband the comments are interesting. The commenters include a number of Trots and a sprinkling of Stalinists. A viewpoint rarely represented in America. We usually get leftists totaly ignorant of bygone leftist theology.


Update: 28 Sept '06 1936z

I have just finished watching the whole set of four. Powerful stuff. If you have a slow connection just watch Part IV.

Update: 03 Oct. '06 0000z

It appears the direct link to Harry's Place is not working. Try this link to the archives and scroll down to 27 Sept.

Tribalism

Across the sea,
Corpses in the water;
Across the mountain,
Corpses heaped on the field;
I shall die only for the Emperor,
I shall never look back.

Japanese Popular Song: Umi Yukaba
The war against Islamofascism is not the first time we in America have faced enemies who loved death more than life. Honor more than victory. We have faced such enemies every time we have faced one of the oldest human cultures on earth. Tribalism.

What we call western civilization is really a series of attempts to get past tribalism and move towards universalism. The Jews with their universal laws (good for Jews and gentiles - the Jews of course were chosen to be burdened with more laws than the gentiles). The laws are (taken from this Wiki):

The seven laws (commonly rendered as Sheva Mitzvot Shel Bnei Noach) are:

1. Avodah zarah - Do not worship false gods.

The universe is a unity. Since it is a unity there can be only one Maker. Tribal gods are null and void. Unity for a nation then becomes possible. Egypt solved the unity problem by incorporating local gods into their religion. They would find in their pantheon a god or goddess that was similar and graft the tribal god to it. The Romans pretty much took the Greek gods wholesale. Eventually Christianity spread the Jewish idea of the unity of the universe and the pagan gods and goddesses were junked. Still the Catholic Church will, if the demand is great enough, incorporate tribal gods disguised as saints.

2. Shefichat damim - Do not murder.

What is special about this law is that it was applied not just within the tribe, but universally.

3. Gezel - Do not steal (or kidnap).

Again what is special about this law is that it was applied not just within the tribe, but universally. There is no such thing as fair game for theft, kidnap, and plunder.

4. Gilui arayot - Do not be sexually immoral (forbidden sexual acts are traditionally interpreted to include incest, bestiality, male homosexual sex acts, i.e. sodomy, and adultery.)

The acts are still forbidden, but the prosecutorial zeal is not what it once was. Except for incest and adult-child sexual relations. That Jesus guy may have had something to do with this. Plus the fact that the status of women has risen from that of property (goats as one of my commenters likes) to people.

5. Birkat Hashem - Do not "bless God" euphemistically referring to blasphemy.

Again the act is still forbidden, but the prosecutorial zeal is not what it once was. Even among the devout, at least in the current western practice.

6. Ever min ha-chai - Do not eat any flesh that was torn from the body of a living animal (given to Noah and traditionally interpreted as a prohibition of cruelty towards animals)

This gives the idea that unnecessary cruelty is not a positive virtue. You can still eat your meat, but the kill must be with as little suffering as possible.

7. Dinim - Set up a system of honest, effective courts, police and laws.

Here is a truly novel idea. Your brother in law or cousin doesn't get special treatment. Every one is equal under the law.

The Talmud also states: "Righteous people of all nations have a share in the world to come" (Sanhedrin 105a). Any non-Jew who lives according to these laws is regarded as one of "the righteous among the gentiles". Maimonides states that this refers to those who have acquired knowledge of God and act in accordance with the Noahide laws.

In the west even the most devout secularist adheres to these laws as currently practiced. Exceping for some on the left who wish to devolve back to a state of tribalism in the name of multi-culturalism where certain tribes are to be given special favor. Everyone is not equal under the law. Of course this destroys the unity of a nation and would reduce the nation state to groups of warring factions when the big advantage of the nation is that it eliminates open warfare within a nation thus making the nation more economically advantaged and stronger morally and militarily. United we stand... and all that.

Which is a long lead up to this very interesting look at tribalism in the Middle East.

To understand the nature of the enemy in the Middle East and to evaluate the prospects for democracy and peace, we need to extend our gaze not five years into the past, but five hundred and even five thousand.

I've spent the last four years writing two books about Alexander the Great's campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, 331-327 B.C. What has struck me in the research is the dead-ringer parallels between that ancient East-West clash and the modern ones the U.S. is fighting today — despite the fact that Alexander was pre-Christian and his enemies were pre-Islamic.

What history seems to be telling us is that the quality that most defines our Eastern adversaries, then and now, is neither religion nor extremism nor "Islamo-fascism," but something much older and more fundamental.

Extremist Islam is merely an overlay (and a recent one at that) atop the primal, unchanging mind-set of the East, which is tribalism, and its constituent individual, the tribesman.

Tribalism and the tribal mind-set are what the West is up against in Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, the Iraqi insurgency, the Sunni and Shiite militias, and the Taliban.

It looks like what we are confronting is a very old form of human organization. The problem with this type of organization is that the justice it provides is not universal. The in tribe gets a measure of justice. The out tribes get the leavings.

What exactly is the tribal mind-set? It derives from that most ancient of social organizations, whose virtues are obedience, fidelity, warrior pride, respect for ancestors, hostility to outsiders and willingness to lay down one's life for the cause/faith/group. The tribe's ideal leader is closer to Tony Soprano than to FDR and its social mores are more like those of Geronimo's Apaches than the city council of Scarsdale or Shepherd's Bush.

Can the tribal mind embrace democracy? Consider the contrast between the tribesman and the citizen:

A citizen is an autonomous individual. A citizen is free. A citizen possesses the capacity to evaluate the facts and prospects of his world and to make decisions guided by his own conscience, uncoerced by authority. A congress of citizens acting in free elections determines the political course of a democratic community.

The citizen is an altogether different animal from the member of a tribe. He lives by a diffeent set of rules. A set of rules the tribalist considers unmanly and without honor. The civilized man rates peace and prosperity higher than honor. Which is not the same as being without honor. A mistake tribalists have been making about the democratically civilized for a very long time. Because the civilized man will allow himself to be dishonored for the sake of peace the tribal man assumes that the civilized man is weak. In fact the civilized man can be more brutal than the tribalist when the civilized man goes into the honor mode. When in that mode it is not just tit for tat revenge he seeks, but the complete destruction of the disturbers of his peace.

The value of the civilized man is the value of the merchant who will take small humiliations for the sake of profit. For the tribalist no amount of profit is worth any humiliation. Which is why merchants and bankers are so despised by the tribalist.

A citizen prizes his freedom; therefore he grants it to others. He is willing to respect the rights of minorities within the community, so that his own rights will be shielded when he finds himself in the minority.

The tribesman doesn't see it that way. Within the fixed hierarchy of the tribe, disagreement is not dissent (and thus to be tolerated) but treachery, even heresy, which must be ruthlessly expunged. The tribe exists for itself alone. It is perpetually at war with all other tribes, even of its own race and religion.

The tribesman deals in absolutes. One is either "of blood" or not. The enemy spy can infiltrate the tribal network no more than a prison guard can worm his way into the Aryan Brotherhood. The tribe recognizes its own. It expels (or beheads) the alien. The tribe cannot be negotiated with. "Good faith" applies only within the pale, never beyond.

The tribesman does not operate by a body of civil law but by a code of honor. If he receives a wrong, he does not seek redress. He wants revenge. The taking of revenge is a virtue in tribal eyes, called badal in the Pathan code of nangwali. A man who does not take revenge is not a man. Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and the sectarian militias of Iraq are not in the war business, they are in the revenge business. The revenge-seeker cannot be negotiated with because his intent is bound up with honor. It is an absolute.

Perhaps the most telling difference between the citizen and the tribesman lies in their views of the Other. The citizen embraces multiplicity; to him, the melting pot produces richness and cultural diversity. To the tribesman, the alien is not even given the dignity of being a human being; he is a gentile, an infidel, a demon.

The tribesman grants justice within the tribe. In his internal councils, empathy, humor and compassion may prevail. Outside the tribe? Forget it.

Civilization is a fragile thing because the lure of tribalism is always there. Socialism's appeal is that the government will take care of you in the way that being a member of a tribe did. The Nazis' appeal was to the greater German tribe. Sadly in America the Democrat Party is the Party where tribes gather; they just don't get civilization. Civilization works by encouraging the tribes to make the tribal identity secondary.

I'm going to be looking into this topic further over time. The number one question is how the tribalist can be converted either over time or by generational change to more universal values.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

The civilized man pursues happiness. The tribalist pursues narrow justice.

The number one problem for the civilized and the tribalized alike is mirror imaging.

Update: 26 Sept '06 1651z

Commenter Paul noted in the comments this very interesting piece by a libertarian anthropologist: Observations on Arabs

Update: 27 Sept '06 1803z

Clayton Cramer comments.

Update: 30 Sept '06 0059z

Elder of Zion and Liberty ans Justice and Infidel Bloggers Alliance comment.


Update: 02 Oct. '06 0807z

Captain's Quarters discusses Afghan tribalism. The comments are especially good. See the one by Dale in Atlanta.

Update: 16 Oct. '06 1405z

Israel Matzav has a good bit on tribalism in Gaza.

Cross Posted at Classical Values 01 April '08.

Thanks!

Reader Paul sent me this link to a letter to the American people by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

Dear Americans:

As I am visiting the United States for the second time representing free and democratic Iraq, I felt it my duty to give you an update on what has been achieved in Iraq over the past year and on the challenges that lie ahead.

The first thing I would like to convey is the gratitude of all Iraqis, who are fighting for a democratic government and a civil society, to the Americans.

Without your commitment, our struggle against despotism could not have made the progress that we have achieved. No expression of thanks could be enough for those who lost loved ones in Iraq. We feel your pain, we honor your sacrifice and we will never forget you.

To those of you who have family and friends in Iraq today, we say: Your sons and daughters are helping us through a historic transition. We will always remember the enormous sacrifice that America is making for Iraq.

Thanks to the United States, we are transforming Iraq from a country that was ruled by fear, repression and dictatorship into a country that is ruled by democracy and has the values of equality, tolerance, human rights and the rule of law at its heart.

April 9, 2003, the day of liberation, heralded a new era in the history of Iraq and the region. That day triggered a sequence of events that laid the foundation of a modern Iraq that is at peace with itself and the world.

All segments of Iraqi society have benefited from liberation. Under Saddam Hussein, the majority of the Sunni Arabs of Iraq were marginalized, Saddam and his gang were ruling in the name of this community. But in reality, the Sunni Arabs never had the chance to choose their representatives democratically and have a say about their future. Today, they have 58 deputies in Parliament, a vice president, a deputy prime minister and a speaker of Parliament; all were elected by the people of Iraq.

...The battle in Iraq today is not between the various communities. Their elected representatives have agreed on a government of national unity and on national reconciliation. Nor is it a battle between civilizations, as some have seen it.

It is a war "about civilization" as Prime Minister Tony Blair has phrased it so well - the conflict is between those who believe in having a civilization and those who don't believe in having one at all. As you no doubt already understand, we are fighting a terribly difficult war in Iraq. We are doing everything within our power to protect our people from this clear form of fascism that seduces them into civil war.

There is more. Read it all for it is good.