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Am I the "peacenik" here? If you think about it the POV I suggested is more radical. Not that steps should not be taken to help bad ideas meet with an early demise.

No man, that is not the way it will work. Islamist identity politics is, over the long term, unsustainable, like Communism in East Germany. But I don't like to talk in terms of anybody being defeated. The demise of Communism in East Germany was actually a victory for the East Germans...

See, its the quality of leadership that counts. If need be translators can be hired. What good did it do to have nincompoop like Nehru, despite all his highfalutin English?

I would be more proud of them if they had shot their British officers. Although there is no hostility towards those Brits that stay where they are meant to be.

Nor can you talk in Chinese, which hardly dictates the appointment of leaders in China. And who the f is the US Prez anyway. A little more self belief is suggested.

A sharp question. Not all Dobermans have the same temperament. Yet you would be justified in being cautious, asking for full disclosure about an individual Doberman's temperament. But it is important to note that variability for humans is much higher than for dog breeds, generalizations are...

True one should not make generalizations about any group, one should do justice to each individual. At the same time it is possible to make meaningful statements about doctrines as they were originally introduced, and have been practiced for centuries.

Excellent inputs.

That needs to be parsed. What if somebody, after a serious and clinical study, has negative opinions about Islam and its founder, and thinks many Muslims are either misguided or want to sweep disturbing issues under the carpet.

I hardly think Modi is dying to visit America. If they invite him as a state guest he may consider it depending on his other commitments.

Don't let this forum inordinately influence your views of BD as a whole. As I was saying on another thread -

The Bangladeshis here cannot be said to be representative of their nation as a whole. Bangladeshis inclined to join a Pakistani forum would probably be more sympathetic to the Razakar-Jamaat forces. Yet these forces lost the most recent election in Bangladesh by a large margin.

To come to a judgment about Islamist identity politics and separatism, one would need to start from the beginning. One would examine the history of the Prophet, on the basis of the Sahih Hadiths, and also the historical record of Islamist politics / imperialism, from early times until the...

No, Chitpavans/Konkanasthas are not of Jewish blood. They are related to the Saraswats. Apparently it is a group of Vedic peoples that moved South when the Saraswati river dried up around 2000 BC.

Ahaa, Goan? Or from Maharashtra?

Well there is a history of 1400 years so we do have a fair amount of data. These questions should ideally be pondered upon without biases arising from accident of birth.

Why do you say that???

True, true. But the idea of Pakistan is entirely unrelated to the Indus Valley civilization. Yes! You are honest. The crux is whether we should regard Islamist identity politics and separatism as a benign or virulent phenomenon.

Let's not think in terms of victory and defeat. As I have been saying on another thread, when truth wins, all sides win. Even the side that may have been mistaken earlier. What greater victory can there be, than liberating yourself from them mental prison of false ideas?

That is an afterthought ... you were created as a Bengali majority nation. The controversy boils down to whether Islamist identity politics and separatism should be regarded as a benign or virulent phenomenon.