Islam, China, and Japan (L'Islam, la Chine et le Japon)
In the wake of the final of the FIFA female world soccer games, a Japanese business website, targeting Japanese Internet users, conducted an online survey on fairness of Americans:
Hove you ever found fairness in Americans?
1. Yes...87.1%
2. Not sure...7.1%
3. Never...5.9%
http://diamond.jp/articles/-/13194/votes
By the way, it is reported that The New York Times criticized a certain American media company that praised so much the Japanese female soccer team for their hard-won victory in Germany in live coverage.
SECTION I: The Islamic Battle of the Trench
To our surprise, the first enterprise early Muslims following the founder of Islam was engaged in was the bloody battle against an old camp in Mecca. It was a kind of an armed religious war led by the very leader of Islam. It was not practice of love and forgiveness. But why did Islam prevail in the Middle East in the seventh century?
The Battle of the Trench (Arabic: غزوة الخندق; Transliteration: Ghazwah al-Khandaq) also known as Battle of Ahzab, Battle of the Confederates and Siege of Medina (Arabic: غزوة الاحزاب; Transliteration: Ghazwah al-Ahzab), was a fortnight-long siege of Yathrib (now Medina) by Arab and Jewish tribes. The strength of the confederate armies is estimated around 10,000 men with six hundred horses and some camels, while the Medinan defenders numbered 3,000. The battle began on March 31, 627.
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Muhammad established his military headquarters at the hillock of Sala' and the army was arrayed there;[5] this position would give the Muslims an advantage if the enemy crossed the trench.[8]
The final army that would defend the city from the invasion consisted of 3,000 men,[13] and included all inhabitants of Medina over the age of 15, except the Banu Qurayza (the Qurayza did supply the Muslims with some instruments for digging the trench).
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The well-organized defenders, the sinking of confederate morale, and poor weather conditions caused the siege to end in a fiasco.
The defeat caused the Meccans to lose their trade and much of their prestige.
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The failure of the siege marked the beginning of Muhammad's undoubted political ascendancy in the city of Medina.[38] The Meccans had exerted their utmost strength to dislodge Muhammad from Medina, and this defeat caused them to lose their trade with Syria and much of their prestige with it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Trench
People of today might wonder why the founder of Islam did not exercise a miracle to defeat his enemies coming from Mecca.
Rather, the founder of Islam was helped by a Persian follower who advised that a great trench surrounding Medina should be dug.
The founder of Islam was also helped by a clan of Judaists who did not eventually join the anti-Islamic force from Mecca, though they had concluded a tentative agreement for cooperation in attacking Medina.
Therefore, Islam owed its survival to Persians and Judaists on its early stage in history. Maybe even today, fundamental condition for existence and survival of Saudi Arabia today lies in its relationship with Israel and Iran.
What should be noted is that it was not a holy miracle the founder of Islam exercised that saved Islam at Medina on its early stage of development.
However, Islam spread like a miracle in the subsequent centuries to the whole Arab region, the Middle East, North Africa, part of central and east Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, the Balkan Peninsula, Central Asia, part of India, the Malay Peninsula, Indonesian Islands, and part of the Philippines.
How could it be possible?
SECTION II: Japan and China
China has the national land with a size 25 times larger than Japan's.
The population density of Japan is 336 while China's population density is just 140.
Around Tokyo the population density is 1,280/km2, but the population density in the Chinese coastal area is 400/km2. So, for example, an airport or a factory around a big city in China can have a three times larger area than that around a big city in Japan. This difference can have a real effect.
Through 1990's and 2000's, more than 20,000 Japanese businesses have moved their business operation to China wholly or partially. They employ directly in total two million local Chinese. Through subsidiary corporations and affiliated companies, they employ indirectly in total nine million local Chinese. Those Japan-associated businesses in China account for 30% or so in export from China (in my estimation).
The point at issue is that added value these Japan-associated companies produce in China is not included in GDP of Japan but in GDP of China in these 20 years.
That is why no GDP increase is observed in Japan in these 15 years in addition to no population increase in contrast to China.
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As for the Murdoch case, the issue is that Mr. Murdoch is not simply suitable for management of the media companies in the free and democratic society.
He does not understand the significance of the Media business, though there are some other Anglo-Saxon media companies that do not understand this significance.
I hope that the God would purge them.
(Something reminds us of New Orleans...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFfOIhiHxbs)
Mar 7:18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
Mar 7:19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
Mar 7:20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.