Although Trump has now named many of his foreign policy advisors, the one who you've been seeing the most in the media is Walid Phares. Curious about his background, I checked Wikipedia and learned that he's Lebanese Christian (from Beirut).
I thought I'd heard that name before -- sure enough, the only solid pro-Trump host on Fox News, Judge Jeanine Pirro, has a maiden name of Ferris. She's also Lebanese Christian (from upstate New York).
Then after watching a clip from The View, where the hen party actually warms up to Trump in the wake of yet another radical Islamic terrorist attack, I checked the background of the exotic Paula, and like magic, her surname is Faris too. She's half-Lebanese and Christian (from the Ann Arbor metro area in Michigan).
It turns out that Phares / Ferris / Faris is a common surname among Lebanese Christians, meaning "knight". Trump attracts fighters, not hiders. It's one thing for Levantine Christians in general to be drawn to him, but it's strange how many come from the same genealogy, as though most of his English supporters were named Knight, or his French supporters Chevalier.
Sounds like a good way to navigate our way through a people and a region that we don't know much about, in the Near and Middle East -- look for other people with this surname, in the same way that we'd look for other members of the Trump tribe, and avoid other members of the Bush clan. That will be especially more useful when dealing with a region where clan politics are more important than they are here.
Leb/Syrian Christians are one of the best immigrant groups we've had: very responsible, patriotic, etc. There have actually been scattered groups of them here in the South since the 19th century (probably many more in the North), and they're well assimilated by now, larely intermarried with locals over time, so few are pure Leb. The newer arrivals are probably mostly in the North, they seem solid too.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/03/29/does_social_connectedness_explain_trumps_appeal_130125.html
ReplyDeleteWhat do you make of this? He does say that Nordic areas go for Trump, so I'll give him credit for that. The majority of the mainstream media doesn't bother to distinguish between gentile American white ethnic groups except for Protestants (pre 1970)/Evangelicals (post 1970) and Catholics. Which isn't very useful anymore in light of all the whacko forms of Christianity that have spread since 1970. And many Am. whites aren't even that religious at all anymore.
Colorado has a "medium" rate of social connectedness? Really? A yuppie/hippie mecca full of strivers and transplants. What is the criteria for social connectedness anyway?
Looks like they're doing their best to un-person anyone not on Team Cruz.. http://www.inquisitr.com/2931321/washington-times-fires-writer-for-confirming-ted-cruz-sex-scandal-claimed-at-least-two-mistresses-accurate/
ReplyDeleteThis fella merely offered his assent to some of the rumors. He didn't even name names. One must give the most prosaic and and qualified account of these rumors to the extent that one can mention them at all. The talking heads are mostly either ignoring the rumors or only glibly referencing them.
When an accusation was made towards Amanda Carpenter on CNN, you expected Carpenter to throw a tantrum. Less forgiveable is the host looking mortified and desperately trying to change the subject. While a major story was unfolding before everyone, no less! The damning video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_kimVFRsps
Folks, when the most pious man in the world is running for office his sexual adventures are strictly off-limits. The whole stinking power structure is beset by anxiety and pique over a champion threatening to bring into the light decades of complacency and corruption.
How much mutual black-mail is going on between the likes of Cruz/McCain/Rubio/The Bushes and the corporate/political/media system? The sins that have been piling up over the last 30 years must be enormous. How else do you explain every thing being thrown at Trump while everyone anxiously scurries away from examining the character of the more "palatable" candiates.
Lebanese folks are one of the few bastions of Christianity in the Middle East. Their nation has a very strong, large, and assertive Christian population. Like Israel and American Jews, Lebs here have a strong connection with their homeland and want it to become Muslim-free. They've endured a lot of anti-Christian overlords over the centuries which has made them Israeli-like in their desire for keeping Muslims out. But unlike modern American Jews, they have no desire to swamp America in diversity, because Lebs, unlike Jews, have largely assimilated to America.
ReplyDeleteHence why they might be attracted to Trump: he wants to ban Muslims from getting in (Lebs like that), and he wants to reduce immigration/diversity overall (Lebs like that).
However, we can't forget that Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecom monopolist whose millions saved the NY Times and made it go pro-open borders, is of Lebanese descent. Of course, open borders are in his financial personal interest: he makes a mint every time a call goes through between Mexican illegals in the U.S. to Mexico, or vice versa.
Maronite Catholics/Roman Catholics Lebanese are based. Also, while Carlos Slim is an enemy of the USA, he's not as much of an enemy to Mexico as our billionaries are to us.
ReplyDeleteHe's exporting the criminals and poor to USA and doing Mexico a favor, unlike ours who take them in.
Make Constantinople Great Again.
ReplyDeleteIt's telling of how self-indulgently ignorant the Plains and Mountain state cucks are about "original Christianity," that they fawn over the Jews, Israel, and apparently focus more on the Old Testament and its prophets than on the New Testament and Jesus and the apostles.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, there are actual Christians from the region where Jesus was from, who have been Christian longer than most Europeans have been, a large segment of whom are in communion with European churches (Catholic and Orthodox).
But when the guru of the Prairie cucks addresses these people, he insults them for not sucking Israel's dick, saying they're full of hate and "If you cannot stand with Israel, then I cannot stand with you". Adios then Cruz, you traitorous Elmer Gantry faggot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyCnwTFGnvM
It proves that the Plains/Mountain state obsession with Israel and Second Temple Judaism is just theatrical mythological bullcrap. They have no desire to learn about, let alone support, the actual Christians of the real-world land of Jesus.
That must be another reason why Levantine Christians are so drawn to Trump -- he's not going to indulge in airy-fairy make-believe bullcrap about ancient Judaism, as regards Middle Eastern foreign policy. Even if they're born and raised in America, most of them still feel some kind of connection to their homeland and don't want to see their Christian traditions go up in a puff of smoke just because the Israel lobby and a bunch of morons from Iowa want to make their culture war real in the Middle East.
"But when the guru of the Prairie cucks addresses these people, he insults them for not sucking Israel's dick, saying they're full of hate and "If you cannot stand with Israel, then I cannot stand with you". Adios then Cruz, you traitorous Elmer Gantry faggot.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyCnwTFGnvM"
Obviously, Cruz was untrustworthy from the start, due to his H1b visa policy, or the thorny issue of his Canadian citizenship.
However, it's the "little" moments like that video that have made me truly despise the man. Similarly, things like when he boasted how he would hire Trump to build the wall, even when Trump is beating him in the polls (why would they want you Ted with Trump, when they can just get Trump?), or today when Carly Fiorina jumped in to defend the affair allegations, that make Cruz come across as such a creep.
As for the Midwest vs Appalachia vs the South, is there any significant outbreeding between the Scots-Irish and Germans in Appalachia?
I've heard good things about Christian Arabs, but have never met any, so it's nice to see those sentiments echoed here. It seems like they're one of the few non-European groups that have the capacity and desire to assimilate. It makes sense, considering that they are the remnants of the pre-Islamic people who lived in those regions, and were much more civilized and connected to Europe then what replaced them.
ReplyDelete"Make Constantinople Great Again."
ReplyDeleteThat's a different kettle of fish, actually. The genetic evidence shows that the Turks are not Turkic. The Ottomans and other Turkic groups left very little of their genes in Turkey, especially the more westward you go toward Istanbul.
Today's residents of Istanbul are basically the same old Anatolians who were there before the nomads from the Steppe showed up and imposed their religion and language on the conquered.
But for better or worse, the Anatolians have maintained their Muslim ways.
If you want Muslim Istanbul to revert to Christian Constantinople, you'd have to de-convert the Anatolians from Islam back to Christianity.
It's akin to the Persians now being Muslims instead of Zoroastrians, after the Arabians conquered them and imposed their religion on them. If we want to Make Iran Zoroastrian Again, we'd have to de-convert them from Islam back to their original religion.
For Turkey and Iran, it's not as simple as kicking out the Arab Muslim invaders, in the way that the efforts to Make Lebanon Christian Again was about driving out the Palestinian (=Muslim) refugees who flooded in after the founding of Israel and the wars of the '60s and '70s.
Thanks for the clarification. I honestly wrote it just because I liked the ring of it.
DeleteSeriously, though, I had been under the impression that Antaolians had been much closer, ethnically, to the Greeks and other Europeans, with red hair and blue eyes being common, before the fall of Constantinople. Maybe I'm getting my wires crossed with the fact that Turkey/Anatolia had a large Greek minority, who were thrown out/genocided after World War I. Obviously there are several hundreds years difference between the two events. Where does the Greek War of Independence from the 1820s fit into this?
Certainly converting people in Turkey back to Christianity would be a plus, if only to weed out within a couple generations the dysgenic breeding habits of Islam (cousin marriage, etc), which take place even in "moderate" countries like Turkey.
As a side note, the Kardashians and Anita Sarkisian (sp?) aside, what is your read of Armenian Americans?
Yes, the genetic impact was pretty minor. In terms of appearance I've been to Turkey and I didn't see any Asian-looking pepo other than the Japanese tourists. Of course Turkish nationalists like to pretend that they're freshly dismounted steppe nomads, but it is about as true as the Aztlan movement.
ReplyDeletei have some Armenians as clients, there are a lot of them in Southern California. In general, I really, really like them. Armenians are a classic merchant minority group. But they are honest and are mostly involved in real businesses as opposed to schlocky scams. Armenians do things like run restaurants and work as window contractors, they don't make high-interest loans or sell worthless mortgages, etc.
ReplyDeleteOn a cultural level, Armenians ARE a merchant minority, so when you work with the Armenian community you have to have a high tolerance for people who make "deals," live as large as they possibly can, think of everything in terms of family, behave in a highly emotional manner, and are always selling.
Most Armenians are fairly devout Christians. They don't wear it on their sleeve so it's hard to tell, but they are deeply, deeply religious. I think that's why they are honest and are involved in real businesses as opposed to the smoke and mirrors economy. They have a strong sense of their own ethnicity. Most German-Americans have forgotten all of their ethnic ties by now, and the Irish-Americans have mostly forgotten theirs. Not so with Armenian-Americnas, they are still very ethnic. I actually find the younger generation to be more Armenian than the older generation, oddly enough, even though the kids were born here. Normally I would find that somewhat off-putting but they really are great people so it's OK. I wish they'd assimilate but they are honest people with good values so if they want to retain a separate sense of ethnic identity it's OK with me.
I have represented members of pretty much every merchant minority ethnic group, and the Armenians are my favorite by FAR, because they are decent, honest people.
The Republican campaign is getting super fun to watch, especially now that the candidates have disavowed their pledges to support whoever ends up as the GOP nominee. This makes a 3rd party run increasingly likely, with either Trump if he doesn't get the nomination, or possibly Cruz but more likely someone like Ryan if Trump gets the nomination. Which of course would give the Democrats a pretty easy victory in November. Fun stuff.
ReplyDeleteArmenia has long been a buffer state between East and West. It is highly independent, so attempts to conquer it met with similar attempts to conquer Afghanistan, the graveyard of empires. As a result of it's independent nature, it retained it's ethnic distinction.
ReplyDeleteThe Persian Empire and Romans traded control of Armenia for centuries, but only as a vassal state, seldom attempting to conquer it; they mostly fought over which empire got to appoint the king--at one point there was a compromise: the Persians could appoint the king of Armenia, but the Romans had to approve him (or vice versa, I can't recall).
Armenia also has an independent Christian church, the Armenian Orthodox Church. This Church is independent from both the Catholic Church and Greek-Russian Orthodox churches. Armenia and its religion is so distinct and independent that it has its own part of Jerusalem called "the Armenian Quarter", which is separate from the "Christian Quarter."
The Armenians include not only the Kardashians and that GamerGate girl, but also Kasparian from Young Turks. They seem a lot more SJW-prone, at least in America. Perhaps not due to tendencies of their ethnic group per se, but being in southern California rather than back East where identity politics aren't as strong.
ReplyDeleteThey're also obsessed with reminding the world about their group being targeted for genocide, preening about being the descendants of genocide victims, etc., openly aping the hysterical Jews.
I appreciate their roots, it's just a shame that they settled California rather than Michigan or upstate New York like the Lebanese Christians did. Aside from being steeped in identity politics, they're in a much more diverse area, so it tends in a confrontational Us vs. Them direction, rather than merely feeling different.
Yeah Lebs were always small in numbers and they spread throughout the country (quite a few notable ones here in Louisiana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Boustany), so it was a given that they'd assimilate rather than found enclaves. Armenians otoh have their own schools in Cali, lobbying groups, etc. so they are aping the Jews to an extent.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that Obama has completely thrown Middle Eastern Christians under the bus, and everyone else - except Trump - have ignored them, it makes sense they'd go for Trump in a big way.
ReplyDelete