By Alexander Maistrovoy
About the use of spells, Wat Tyler’s Rebellion, midlife crisis, human rights and “secular Muslim Brotherhood”
In the middle of the 15th century the waters of Lausanne lakes were flooded with bloodsuckers that afflicted the population of the city. To stop this misfortune, rich citizens asked for assistance from famous Heidelberg ecclesiastics. A criminal case was initiated against the contemptible creatures. Some of them were brought to court to listen to the judgment. They were demanded to leave the lakes within three days. Ecclesiastics performed spells and rituals after which bloodsuckers, as annals say, shamefully retired.
This story was mentioned by a famous social anthropologist James Frazer, and it strongly reminds me of the West’s reaction to the political cataclysms of the Arab World.
All that we hear from Washington , London , Paris and Berlin can be combined into a mantra of three parts:
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– Free and democratic elections and the observance of human rights;
– Continuation of peace process;
– Belief in irreversibility of Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel .
Each of these is related neither to reality nor to each other.
You can call the current events everything you like – outburst of unspent youth’s energy, hungry revolts, “grapes of wrath” – but not a way to “freedom, democracy and human rights”. During the 14th century of its existence the Muslim world endures the painful convulsions reminding of the two thousand years ago swirling in the Jewish world and Medieval Christian Europe.
The current events are not similar to French and Russian revolutions, which had even if utopian, but ideological orientations. They are equivalents of bloody uprisings of the Middle Ages: The Jacquerie, the rebellions of Wat Tyler, Jan Žižka and Stepan (Sten’ka) Razin.
Such revolts inevitably lead to reprisals and much more brutal absolutism. In the case of Egypt and Tunisia one need not be a prophet to see the future.
In those countries where there are not even rudiments of a native market economy, no culture of tolerance, and concept of “civil rights”, where semi-literate preachers rule the minds, religious movements remain the only real force. In other words, any elections will bring to power the Muslim Brotherhood. It happened in Algeria in 1991, in Iran and in Gaza . Very few people remember that in the Iranian revolution of 1979 left-wing radical groups Moj?hedin-E Khalq, Fedain al-Khalq, and communists from Tudeh Party of Iran also participated. They were crushed by Islamists who got support of the majority of the population. The same occurred in Gaza where Hamas won a decisive victory in elections. Then the key Fatah activists were physically annihilated. The same will almost certain happen in Egypt and Tunisia .
The basic of Islamic ideology is militant clericalism and hatred of Western culture, no matter how appeasable and pliable it is. The imperative is simple: “I hate you because you exist.”
You can name the Muslim Brotherhood “heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried Al Qaeda as a perversion of Islam”, as the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper did. It is possible to express hope that Egypt can become an example of democratization for all Arabian states, as Tony Blair did. And following Obama, admire the fact that “The people of Egypt have spoken”. These spells are equal to those of ecclesiastics of Heidelberg.
Even before the revolution an Egyptian Islamic Scholar Ibrahim Al-Khouli formulated the concept of the Muslim Brotherhood: “Forget about Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. That’s not what I’m talking about. I am talking about Jihad which is led by the Islamic scholars … I am talking about the Jihad of the entire nation. We must conduct jihad against the West, who are aggressors against the Land of Islam ”.
Anyway, the inevitable result of the Muslim Brotherhood victory will be abolishing peace treaty with Israel. Hamas is an offshoot of Egypt ‘s Muslim Brotherhood. That is why the first Hamas-Israeli conflict will leave them no choice.
According to Pew poll that took place before the current events almost a half of Egyptian population was favorable toward Hamas. In case of the Muslim Brotherhood coming to power this percent will rise sharply.
On February, 1 Rashad al-Bayoumi, a deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood said: “After President Mubarak steps down and a provisional government is formed, there is a need to dissolve the peace treaty with Israel ”.
On February, 4 Dr. Ashraf Abdulgaffar, one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood spoke in Istanbul : “No to Israel and America “.
“And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN”. Belshazzar’s Writing can’t be seen but its spells continue: Obama, Cameron, Sarkozy, the Secretary-General of the United Nations and Secretary General of NATO.
Will the Palestinian state have a chance to survive if the power of its leaders is limited to Ramallah and ensured by Israeli security forces? What will happen the next day after the IDF leave the West Bank ? Which party will win any democratic election? We know answers to these questions. The next question, therefore, is: if the width of the territory in the central, most densely populated part of the country doesn’t exceed 20-25 km, how can Israel defend its border against the united armies of Egypt and Hamas , Syria and “Hezbollah”, not to mention Iran ?
Can Israel believe the promises of the Western countries if Obama cancels obligations of his predecessor and the West have betrayed everybody who had imprudence to cast in the lot with it: from the Iranian Shah to Hosni Mubarak?
Alas, the West isn’t able to think and behave differently. It is the hostage of its own clichés, and can’t abandon them as ancient people couldn’t abandon the outlook in conformity with which the world stood on three whales and three elephants.
Certainly, Europe and US can’t change the tendency in the Arab world, but they could try to neutralize threat and to do their best to support their last bastions: Israel , Jordan and kingdoms on the Persian Gulf . Instead of repeating a sacred mantra about the “integrity of Iraq “, try to create a viable Kurdistan state especially when Turkey has adopted an open anti-Western attitude. They could strengthen military potentials of friendly Christian countries on the Balkans and in Africa that fear expansion of Islam, and support the still strong Christian community in Lebanon .
Perhaps the European powers of Belle Epoque would have done so but certainly not the present West. They have neither will, nor courage, nor ingenuity, nor common sense.
They hope to eliminate the threat of Islamic fundamentalism by the same methods as ecclesiastics from Heidelberg used. They will hardly succeed.
Cool, Yamit. I suppose “The writing on the wall” is similar to “When the fat lady sings” meaning the end is nigh at hand.
MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN in Aramaic means NUMBERED, NUMBERED, WEIGHED, DIVIDED. When G_d speaks twice or more, He is emphasizing the point. G_d’s finger wrote on the wall to King Belshazzar who drank from the holy vessels. This signaled the end of Babylon and it was destroyed that night. This below is KJB but it is virtually the same in JPS which you can read here. In the Bible He only wrote with his finger three times so this is very important.
Dan 5:1 Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.
2 Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.
3 Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.
4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
5 In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
…snip…
Da 5:25 And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
26 This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
28 PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
Da 5:29 Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
30 In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.
31 And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.
The Torah was written in Hebrew.
Dan 5:24 Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.
Dan 5:25 And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
Dan 5:26 This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
Dan 5:27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
Each word was explained by Daniel as related to a corresponding Aramaic verb. Together they indicated that G-d was about to put an end to the Chaldean dynasty, and indeed that very evening Belshazzar was assassinated (Dan 5:30). It has been shown that the words themselves originally referred to weights of monetary value. Thus Mene represents a mina (60 shekels); Tekel a shekel and Peres a half-mina. They, in turn, most probably indicate the rulers of the neo-Babylonian Chaldean dynasty; Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-Merodach, Nabonidus and Belshazzar.
Dan 5:28 PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
This is where the saying : “The writing on the wall” originated.
Thanks, 82, but what does the word mene translate as? Is Aramaic used in the original Hebrew Torah?
It’s Aramaic See #5
I don’t quite understand this post, what do these words mean, mene, mene etc.?
Speaking of volcanos, however, the entire city of Naples, Italy lies in the cauldron of a huge volcano. Mount Vesuvius is nearby, but the volcano on which the city is built may be ten times as large. There is steam hissing to the surface in some locations. There is also vast underground cave systems which were developed for centuries by earlier Italians.
An early warning system telling the people to immediately vacate is the only remedy to save lives.
Sorry, the Hebrew letters didn’t show up.
Zeph 2:3 Seek ye the LORD, all ye humble of the earth, that have executed His ordinance; seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger.
Excellent comments from Laura and Yamit! As for “MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN”, what country(ies) gets divided and what are the consequences? Joel 4:1-2 says: (please check Hebrew at link to mechon-mamre.org)
Is that time now or in this generation? Is the tense such that it is set to happen? If so, then G_d will judge those nations by dividing them as well. G_d has been giving dreams and visions to “all flesh” (Jews, Christians, and non-believers) of what will happen. Look at this:
BTW, ex-Premier and extreme liberal Sir Geoffrey Palmer (and mate of ex-PM Helen Clark now a UN official who got him the position) is heading the U.N. committee reviewing the Mavi Marmara incident. His district was Christchurch CBD the location of the major earthquake there. If he rules against Israel, NZ could be in for more “Acts of God.”
Many people have had dreams or visions of the U.S. being divided by a huge quake at the New Madrid Seismic Zone which is the most hazardous fault zone in the U.S. As an example, I will show just this one dream which was published yesterday.
Mene, Mene, Tekel u-Pharsin
Daniel 5:25–28:
That very night King Belshazzar is slain, and Darius the Mede becomes King.
The hand writing on the wall seem to me becoming clearer each day. Signs are not good. Then we get a real shocker today/
Analysts shocked, officials gleeful at surging Israeli growth: 7.8% in Q4
While the Israeli economy grew by 7.8% in the last quarter, according to data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics yesterday,
the euro-zone economy is estimated to have grown by just 0.3% in that period.
We are not a bastion of the west, we are leaving them in our dust.
You have not been paying attention: “It’s the world against us”!!
You Jew haters are not pleased that some of us are not performing according to your antisemitic scripts like these Jews:
The conflict is between Jews and the world. European powers evicted Jews from Europe, and allocated to us 0.01% of the Middle East. In fact, there were several arrangements, Jewish demands diminishing at each turn. The Balfour Declaration gave Jews a fraction of what Jews and Christians know as the Promised Land. Afterwards, the British gave away 3/4 of the Jewish land in order to accommodate a friendly Iraqi prince left without a kingdom, and thus appeared Jordan. At the time, Jews numbered a hundred times the population of the Jordanian Bedouin, but the Bedouin got three times more land. Then came the 1947 partition between the Jews and those Arabs whom even Jordan refused to take in. The Jews accepted even that, but the Arabs refused and have fought Israel over six decades. The world still wants the partition to benefit the Arabs, instead of accepting that they lost the right to the partition they fought against. The partition of Israel wouldn’t merely give Palestinians a state, but a second state in addition to the one they already have in Jordan (ethnic Palestinian Arabs are a majority in Jordan). Besides that partition, the world demands that Israel accommodate two million Arab citizens and resident aliens in what is left of Israel.
I would say it’s them (the world) against us!
Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for the LORD of hosts will reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem
Isiah 24
It is only now that Jews can put the sun to shame. In Mahabharata’s words, we can light thousands of suns. With a push of a red button.
Israel is among the top nations in medicine, science and technology. I would say Israel has a great deal to offer. That is why it was accepted in the OECD.
BO, I disagree.
A nation can choose to be blessed or cursed by G_d as a direct response to how that nation treats Israel. If a nation chooses to oppose Israel, G-d will destroy that nation or empire. (Zech 12:3,9). Look what happened to the British Empire! Its descent is directly in proportion to its moves against Israel. G_d said He would restore Israel in her own land, and He will. The test question for everyone watching is “Who’s on the Lord’s side?” (Ex 32:26). That is why one supports Israel. Based on Matt. 25:31-46, and what I call the Inasmuch Principle, G_d requires people to choose whether to support Israel (He calls “my brethren”, v. 40) or not and will put a whole bunch in Hell (v. 46) for opposing Him on that issue. Look it up.
Israel is NOT a bastion of the West. It is a Jewish state, with its own “us against the world” agenda. I don’t know what any nation has to gain by supporting her: Those individuals who do, such as Christians like Rev. Hagee, do so out of religious conviction; Israel really has nothing to offer, other than having been a place mentioned in the Christian Bible.