What might be a good book or website for someone wanting to learn about the middle east? I'm looking for a general survey that would help them understand the present situation.

The Assyrian News Agency could be a good resource.

http://www.aina.org/

Books written by Robert Spencer about Islam are invaluable when trying to understand the Middle-East.

http://www.raymondibrahim.com  (Raymond Ibrahim is an American & Copt from an Egyptian background)

http://www.jihadwatch.org   (Robert Spencer's site)

Here is a source for information about the Armenian Catholic Church.

http://www.armeniancatholic.org/

Looks good from a Catholic perspective, but I was looking for something more secular in nature. My nephew is being indoctrinated into religious indifferentism at best, or mohammedanism at worst, at his non-Catholic college. If I show him anything Catholic he might react badly.

 My nephew is being indoctrinated into religious indifferentism at best, or mohammedanism at worst, at his non-Catholic college. If I show him anything Catholic he might react badly.

The sites I mentioned previously are secular, although Robert Spencer is a Greek Melkite Catholic.
There are a lot of links on the jihad watch website & it does have zionist support.

Quote from: poche

Here is a source for information about the Armenian Catholic Church.

http://www.armeniancatholic.org/

Looks good from a Catholic perspective, but I was looking for something more secular in nature. My nephew is being indoctrinated into religious indifferentism at best, or mohammedanism at worst, at his non-Catholic college. If I show him anything Catholic he might react badly.

I will try to keep your newphew in my prayers Maria.

I read this a few years ago; it might be up your alley if you're looking for the contemporary secular viewpoint:



The author is a secular reporter (female). If I remember correctly, her parents may have been ambassadors, but I may be thinking of someone else. Its certainly offers some good insights into mid-east conflicts. I'm half Lebanese by birth, not that that counts for very much but I am constantly aware of the going ons in the Middle East, and have some cousins who had emigrated there, and appreciated this work as a very good perspective/ insight.

It's hard for me, having ignored politics my entire life. My impression of the middle east is that the Christians are being martyred, and the Jєωs and Mohammedans are both evil, but the Jєωs are just more sophisticated and smarter.

My nephew says his professor is spending about 3 or 4 hours a week with him in his office, teaching him. He's grateful for the attention, and he seems to be interested in what he's learning, but when I ask him what he's learning, he's not able to tell me in sentences, beyond just 'the history', or 'the different perspectives'. His professor teaches a course on 'Islamic Culture' which 'debunks myths' the west has against 'Islam'. Sure. But he also thinks the Jєωs are right to be given a homeland, because they've been 'persecuted' for their entire history. He said there was a time when Jєωs weren't allowed to be doctors.

That same day we were chatting and I asked him if he has any dreams of travelling to some special place, and he said 'Egypt'. I told him about the mohammedans persecuting Christians there, and mentioned the 'Muslim Brotherhood' and his eyes lit up. When I told him about the torching of the Coptic cathedral, and no one being punished for it, he just hung his head and looked embarrassed for me.

So horrifying. O, Lord help him!  :cry:

At one time he said he wanted to be like Martin Luther King, someone who is 'unbiased'. What an ungodly unholy mess his poor mind is in. He's only 20.

I am not a neocon.

I am not sure about that, given the other things you wrote in your response.

Are you a socialist?

No, but I find it strange that that was your first question after establishing that you're not a neocon.  Are you a capitalist ?

I am not a member of the US military - though I do not see how that is a bad thing.

Swearing an oath to defend Freemasonic principles in order to knowingly fight for a country whose foreign policy and raison d'être is contrary to the Social Kingship of Christ is certainly problematic for a Catholic.  I also find the US military's general ethos to be strongly Protestant, pietistic, and empiricist in nature, such that I could never recommend that anybody join it.  Even if we were to exclude the question of Masonic and heretical Americanist principles, the ethos itself does not seem to foster a Catholic mindset.  

It does preserve some natural goods, of course, I admit.  But those goods are mixed into a body of error and an unlawful tradition (unlawful, that is, according to the Law of Nations, which the liberal governments and countries transgress through their continued disobedience to Our Lord, the Roman Pontiff, and to lawfully constituted sovereign authority in general and in particular, namely the lawful Christian Kings) that socialises young men into a fraternity of anti-Catholic images, mentalities, associations.
 

Do you support the Palestinian cause?

I do not support the Zionist cause and I think that the Palestinians rightfully defend their own land from unjust aggressive invasion, though of course I do not support the Mohammedans' ambitions nor many of their methods.  That being said, the Holy Places need to be ruled by a Catholic order.  Anything less is an objective sacrilege.

I am neither a globalist nor a Zionist.

I am not sure about that.  Why did you immediately ask if I was a socialist and if I supported the "Palestinian cause" ?

Watch were you point that finger.

I am.

I did give the warning that the sites I suggested supported Zionism.

It appeared more like a footnote than a warning, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt unless I have good reason to do otherwise.

I do have family ties to the Middle East & an understanding of the culture.

The "Middle East" is a very diverse place.  There's Anatolia, the Caucausus, the Iranian Plateau, the Maghreb, the Levant, Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula, the Gulf, Egypt and Libya, Central Asia, Pakistan.  And then there are Christians, Mohammedans (of many stripes), Eastern Orthodox, Protestants, Copts, Armenian schismatics, Druze, and many other things.  I don't think that being Pakistani means one necessarily has meaningful insight into Turkey, nor does being Jordanian Melkite mean that one has much insight into Morocco and Afghanistan, etc.

To understand the situation in the Middle East, one has to acquire knowledge about Islam.

Yes, of course.

Robert Spencer does a good job exposing Islam, regardless of support of Zionism or not, as Spencer references the Koran, Hadiths etc. Spencer does not push any religion, but has a Christian perspective.

I am wary of anybody who simply says that he has "exposed" "Islam" without making the necessary distinctions.  I am also suspicious of somebody's "Christian perspective" if they support Israel.  Does Robert Spencer ever talk about "human rights" or something being "Judaeo-Christian" ?