Alexis wrote:When speaking of religious hatred, the Heretic is generally even more hated than the Infidel, because he's closer hence more threatening, also because he's perceived as a "treator".
At the times of Christianity's religious war mid-16th to mid-17th century, Catholic and Protestant fanatics probably hated more each other than they hated Jews or Muslims.
Wahabis hate more Shias than they hate Christians (maybe even more than they hate Jews?... would have to check that one, though!)
David Goldman's wet dreams include extended, prolonged and destructive religious warfare between Sunni and Shia.
He would probably rejoice at such information you point to.
Excellent points. It turns out that Judaism is even closer to Islam than Christianity, and the Hebrew culture is also close to Arab culture (not only the grammar, but many Hebrew words are the same as in Arabic.) The striking similarities between Islam and Judaism, represent a very competitive situation for the Wahabis. For this reason, it is not enough for the Wahabis to fight or even destroy Israel, they also feel that Jews must be simultaneously discredited and made inferior. Killing the Jews is only the second choice for the Wahabis, their first choice is to keep the Jews alive to preserve them as second class citizens. Recall that when a Jewish tribe in Saudi peninsula opposed Mohammed, he was very upset because a monotheistic and very similar culture that is in fact at the foundation of Islam was making trouble. For these reasons, I am sure that the Islamist extremists would be more concerned about Judaism than Christianity.
But on the other hand, depending on how the world geopolitics and economy progress, it is still possible that one day the Shiites in Iran might unite with the Sunnis against the West. (They were united against Crusaders.)
If the world economy collapses in 2014, as Nouriel Roubini worries (his parents are Iranian Jews), then you never know what kind of politics will materialize. A regime change in Saudi Arabia is possible. Then, a few clever and charismatic Sunni and Shiite leaders might get together and make an alliance between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The name HAL is derived from "Heuristically Programmed ALgorithmic Computer." HAL 10000 is the new generation computer destined to become the successor to HAL 9000, as suggested in Arthur C. Clarke's book.