AustritariaBoard

Korouse wrote:

Nuclear power and electric cars.

Yeah. Fracking and those 2 are great options. We need to get off ground oil dependence.

Rio de fuego wrote:

It's pretty clear his intent was to not make Catholics just fear Muslims, saying that there are some imperious attitudes in the New Testament. No Islam isn't about conquest. No Muhammed did not rape pillage and convert people by force. Just as you said about Christianity that form of fived conversion wouldn't come till the Abbassid Caliphate.
I don't really give a fvck what infowars or liberals say.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Muslim_conquests

Oh boy, history itself must be ebul right-wing propaganda.

Korouse wrote:

ayyyy just more proof that religion is cancerous to modern society
/vidirea

They were murdering pagans, so it was justified.

Nobique wrote:

Yeah. Fracking and those 2 are great options. We need to get off ground oil dependence.

What problem does fracking solve? Ignoring environmental concerns, it might have been cost effective a year or two ago, but they're hard pressed to compete now because the Suadis are incentivized to keep oil prices way down. Gulf oil is by far the cheapest, that's how they've been able to put the squeeze on the rest of OPEC. The only thing North American fracking can do is further incentivize Saudis to keep the prices down, which only worsens the world's oil dependance.

Yeah, let's phase out oil in favor of stuff like Hydroelectric and Thorium reactors. With that, the Middle East oil companies will collapse and we won't be their bitches.

Umbrellya wrote:

You want a continued saga of the Arab Spring?

Arab "Fall" does sound like a good name for a democracy era :')

Igoria wrote:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Muslim_conquests
Oh boy, history itself must be ebul right-wing propaganda.

No dawg. I know the Muslims conquered a huge fvck off empire. but they didn't like totally Viking that sht. They weren't burning down every city and converting people by sword point.

Desertas wrote:

Arab "Fall" does sound like a good name for a democracy era :')

You cheeky rectangle!

Icrum wrote:

Yeah, let's phase out oil in favor of stuff like Hydroelectric and Thorium reactors. With that, the Middle East oil companies will collapse and we won't be their bitches.

They're already starting to sell off shares of Saudi Aramco. I'm not sure we were ever their bitches though.

Umbrellya wrote:

You want a continued saga of the Arab Spring?

The hope is that the more stable countries with more diverse economies can lead the way into the post-oil world. If Tunisia holds up, it won't have been for nothing.

Rio de fuego wrote:

"This a complicated question, but it boils down to the simple economics of supply and demand.
United States domestic production has nearly doubled over the last several years, pushing out oil imports that need to find another home. Saudi, Nigerian and Algerian oil that once was sold in the United States is suddenly competing for Asian markets, and the producers are forced to drop prices. Canadian and Iraqi oil production and exports are rising year after year. Even the Russians, with all their economic problems, manage to keep pumping at record levels." - Ny times
And yes the Saudi economy is really suffering.

I think that quote is compatible with what I said about Iran, and about North American fracking. We can agree there's a lot of different factors at play. And I'm certainly not debating the state of the Saudi economy, but I'm saying the Saudis can afford to drill longer at these prices. Most other countries have a heavier crude that requires a more costly refining process. Where the Saudis are struggling is their lack of diversity. Not everyone can become a tourism destination like the UAE.

Rio de fuego wrote:

No dawg. I know the Muslims conquered a huge fvck off empire. but they didn't like totally Viking that sht. They weren't burning down every city and converting people by sword point.

They didn't raze cities to the ground because that tends to be counterproductive when building an empire that you hope will last.

They certainly raped and pillaged their way through Persia, the Levant, and North Africa, as every army did, does, and will keep on doing whenever they conquer new lands. How else do you keep tens of thousands of soldiers motivated?

Conversions weren't forceful in the sense that they gave their new subjects the choice between conversion and death, but they were forceful in the sense that an incentive in the form of heavy taxation was provided to get the commoners to convert. The aristocracy and local elites were generally spared this to get them to cooperate - that is, if they hadn't been slaughtered and replaced with more trustworthy Muslim Arab elites. Also came suppression of local laws and religious practices. Generally, people in conquered areas had three options: 1) convert 2) live as a second class citizen with social debilitations 3) die.

Was Islamic conquest markedly worse than any empire of that era? Nope.
But was it lovely and peaceful? Hardly.