<p>hahaha kittenwar, i had to vote for the one named tigerton-good luck for princeton</p>
<p>^ In a non nuclear war?</p>
<p>And how else would we (or the Chinese for that matter) respond to a massive invasion of our (their) homeland?</p>
<p>Wars won’t occur between actual military powers for the same reason no nuclear state will ever use a nuke: mutual destruction is guaranteed.</p>
<p>On the nuclear front, I’m most worried about Pakistan.
Their state is effectively failed. Plenty of ISI/Army Generals are openly affiliated with the Taliban/Al-Quaida and not the government of Pakistan.
Pakistan never did the central authorization bit with it’s arsenal that America did: So now there are plenty of unaccounted for nuclear weapons in Pakistan. It’s likely they’re already in terrorist hands, which will be used in the event of an occupation/invasion of Taliban controlled areas.
The entire situation that jihadists present is a troubling one; how do you deter an enemy that gets Paradise for dying in war against you?</p>
<p>all i’ve got is…kill them before they kill you?
one of the most troubling things about Pakistan is the willingness of their government to cede control of some areas, even ones with very little of the taliban present, to radical islamists/the taliban</p>
<p>it’s true many muslim countries have failed governments that have sadly parted with the original islamic meaning of peace and toleration. regardless, however, it’s naive to judge the entire country as a population. governments are in charge – not the people.</p>
<p>in the case of pakistan, it’s simple dictatorships or crooked politics. interestingly enough, bhutto was a female who became prime minister of the country (and she didn’t get acid thrown on her – she just got killed but after two terms). but to assume that all pakistani’s support the lax on the taliban or that all saudis feel women shouldn’t be allowed to drive, i think that’s naive.</p>
<p>i know you didn’t mean that, but maybe we all should consider that many countries are ruled by governments, not the people.</p>
<p>it’s hard to believe “the vast majority” of muslims condone all this.</p>
<p>yeah, my issue is with the government, which is very weak and very corrupt</p>
<p>I think the majority of Pakistanis would be happier with the Sharia law of the Taliban, than the law of the Pakistani government, as evidence by them asking for it, and getting it (most recently in the Frontier regions and Swat)</p>
<p>The “original islamic meaning of peace and toleration”?</p>
<p>There aren’t many instances in history where Islam treated people with peace.
Please examine the life of Mohammed. It is brilliant military conquest after brilliant military conquest. Please look up what a jizya is. (spelling varies)</p>
<p>I don’t want to believe that the vast majority of Muslims condone Islamic fundamentalism…</p>
<p>But they don’t exactly condemn it.</p>
<p>right. considering we’re talking about the prophet of islam here, he’s running a muslim state – a nation that is being ruled by laws provided by a god. in that sense, muslims have to pay tax, too. muslims, right. so having muslims pay zakaat and non-muslims paying jizya isn’t completely ridiculous of an idea. it’s just another means of taxation, and in return the non-muslims can keep their faith and are guaranteed safety and economic freedom.</p>
<p>as far as military conquest upon military conquest is concerned, there’s not really much to argue. there’s too much of a history in any religion that has military conquest and extremism embedded in it (crusades, inquisition, hindu riots, etc.) so let’s be rational.</p>
<p>and as far as the vast majority of muslims not condemning fundamentalist islam is concerned, i have to beg to differ. i have no facts. but i think at least here in america, the feelings against terrorism (not islam) run high amongst muslims.</p>
<p>but i don’t want to get in a religious debate with anonymous posters on an loosey goosey forum on collegeconfidential.com. after four years of religious studies – on my part – we’ll chat it up.</p>
<p>“non-muslims paying jizya isn’t completely ridiculous of an idea. it’s just another means of taxation, and in return the non-muslims can keep their faith and are guaranteed safety and economic freedom.”</p>
<p>Except in the Western world, having to pay money an entity to guarantee safety from them is extortion, and not being guaranteed freedom of religion is barbarism on the part of the state.</p>
<p>“there’s too much of a history in any religion that has military conquest so let’s be rational”</p>
<p>That gives us 2: Christianity and Islam.</p>
<p>“i think at least here in america, the feelings against terrorism (not islam) run high.”</p>
<p>Compare that to countries where Islam is either the official (if not mandated) religion of the state, where “terrorists” are considered brave jihadists, and those that die are honored as “shahid” that died in defense of Al-Din.</p>
<p>If you’d like to chat about this, I’m game.</p>
<p>look, bro. i never in my life would say the muslim states today would be right taxing non-muslims. it’s offensive and barbaric. but if, some day, the actual representative from god appears and would say that, i would be down.</p>
<p>there is intolerance in too many races, in too many religions, in too many homes. but the fact remains that we have to believe in the goodness of people – and i believe in the goodness of the “majority of muslims.” i can’t, as a muslim, say i’m part of the minority when i say osama bin laden is a terrorist – a man who i don’t find a muslim.</p>
<p>please, don’t overgeneralize and say terrorists are considered jihadists by most overseas muslims. you sound weird.</p>
<p>on a lighter note, how’s everyone’s march madness brackets going
with memphis out I’ve officially lost a full division</p>
<p>ooh. that sucks man. my condolences. i called that, haha oh yea. all i need is a pitt victory and my bracket will be an epic win.</p>
<p>Well… some nice, light, and cheery banter to round off the day always has a place on magical threads.</p>
<p>I think this topic is much more important than kittenwar, granted, I’ll give you that.
I’m just not going to participate in it because I may well just get too passionate about it. And though passion is great, in some situations it induces me to say things that I don’t quite mean.</p>
<p>So… how 'bout them Yanks?</p>
<p>Everyone, remember: Teixeira is a guy who finishes hot, not starts hot.</p>
<p>[Picture</a> Is Unrelated - *** Pictures](<a href=“http://www.pictureisunrelated.com%5DPicture”>http://www.pictureisunrelated.com) </p>
<p>I can’t believe I missed the discussion on China, dangit. :(</p>
<p>This thread makes me happy inside… haha. Mostly because everytime I come back to it 3-8 pages are new and totally unrelated to what was being discussed before!</p>
<p>on a related note… do you realize how close we are to breaking 100 pages??</p>
<p>Ahh, Butternut, that MUST have been photoshopped.</p>
<p>When JHU bites, when Wellesleeee stings, when I’m feeling sad,</p>
<p>I simply take a look at William Hung’s face, and then I don’t feel so bad:</p>
<p><a href=“http://farm1.static.■■■■■■■■■■/58/159361908_b3e8f63b4c_o.jpg[/url]”>http://farm1.static.■■■■■■■■■■/58/159361908_b3e8f63b4c_o.jpg</a></p>
![http://farm1.static.■■■■■■■■■■/58/159361908_b3e8f63b4c_o.jpg[/url]](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/58/159361908_b3e8f63b4c_o.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>^ Lmao.</p>
<p>Congratulations to everyone accepted :)</p>
<p>To those waitlisted/rejected: you guys will get in somewhere amazing 
and as long as you know you have it in you…you’ll succeed in life…
^
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<p>I said all that cuz i wanted to and believe so
it sounds cliched, maybe 'cause it is cliched and everyone says it but that definitely doesn’t change the fact that it is true whatsoever</p>
<p>sorry the arrow’s crooked…i’m bad at drawing :/</p>
<p>can someone correct me if I’m wrong that Penn’s acceptance rate this year is 21%??
Too bad they din publish yale :s</p>
<p>first line
[Wine-tasting</a> preceptorial enrolls 2.3 percent of applicants - News](<a href=“http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2009/03/26/News/WineTasting.Preceptorial.Enrolls.2.3.Percent.Of.Applicants-3684992.shtml]Wine-tasting”>http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2009/03/26/News/WineTasting.Preceptorial.Enrolls.2.3.Percent.Of.Applicants-3684992.shtml)</p>