Domination and Division

Joe Kent said only what Marco Rubio had said, but in Kent's case disapprovingly and thus in keeping with the platform on which Donald Trump had run three times and won twice. The Dispensationalist view of the Catholic Church is also now attracting mass attention, so to speak, meaning that that coalition is doomed, and indeed it may already be over, especially if the plight of the Christians in the Holy Land and the wider region became widely known in the United States.

Nick Timothy may object to Muslims praying in Trafalgar Square, but does he even know that Israel has closed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, banning Holy Week and Easter services for the first time ever, since that never happened in 12 or 13 centuries of Muslim rule, while several hundred churches and 100 synagogues remained open in Iran? His chest inked with the Jerusalem Cross, does Pete Hegseth know any of that? Does Doug Wilson? Would Timothy extend to constitutionally Protestant England, a far cry from the First Amendment, Wilson's call for Processions of the Blessed Sacrament and Processions of Our Lady to be made illegal? If not, why not?

Three years ago, an enormous procession was held in Tehran when the remains of the Chaldean Catholic Johnny Bet Oshana were returned. Everything about that event would have baffled Timothy or Hegseth, and disgusted Wilson. But how long can that Iran survive? How long can any Iran survive? Trump may have no idea why he is bombing Iran, but Pakistan and Afghanistan know exactly why they are at war with each other, and the ramifications for Iran are existential.

Narendra Modi has used the Taliban to take colonial possession of Afghanistan, the better to squeeze Pakistan. The Durand Line is as meaningless as the Sykes-Picot Line. The P in Pakistan is Punjab, the a is Afghania (i.e., the Pashtun homeland of which most of the area is in Afghanistan, but there remain two and a half times as many Pashtuns in Pakistan), the k is Kashmir, the i was added "for ease of pronunciation" to sound more Urdu and less Punjabi, the s is Sindh, and the tan is Balochistan. But of those, only Sindh has ever been wholly in Pakistan. Part of Bolchistan is in Afghanistan, while rather more of it is in Iran. It is fundamental to Pakistan that Amritsar, Kandahar and Srinagar and are all naturally and rightfully Pakistani cities. And it is fundamental to Pakistan that Zahedan is, too. Think on.