Israel Shamir on "The Sheer Joy of Afghanistan"

Is it OK to celebrate the Taliban’s victory? It is if you live in Moscow!

Israel Shamir just published the delightfully politically-incorrect article "The Sheer Joy of Afghanistan." He begins: “My congratulations, friends and readers! The Taliban’s victory is our victory, yours and mine. We, non-Muslim and non-Pashtun folk, in the US and Europe, may rejoice, for in Afghanistan, virile (not ‘toxic’) masculinity defeated gender-diversity, believers defeated those weak of faith, the morals of our fathers overcome the morals of our sons.”

He adds: “These armed peasants reminded us that we still can change the world. It is not necessary to submit. All the rules of the game could be re-written; the whole game could be dumped.”

Shamir is happy to see the Taliban banning lending at interest (usury, banned by Muslims as riba), cracking down on the drug trade, and re-establishing family values, Afghanistan style—hopefully without some of the excesses of the 1990s. He adds that Biden’s decision to withdraw rather than succumb to the pressure of military leaders and opinion-makers has raised his opinion of the otherwise unremarkable US president. (Trump, Shamir adds, also wanted to withdraw, but wasn’t competent enough to make it happen.)

Bottom line: Big news this good, and good news this big, rarely happens. Enjoy it while it lasts.

The descendent of Russian rabbis, Israel Shamir lived much of his life in Israel, where he converted to Christianity and the Palestinian cause. He currently resides in Moscow.

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