PS: On the whole, traveling on a low budget, at a young age, mind you, made it pretty fun. We'd see some people we'd met at a youth hostel in Paris in another country at a train station weeks later and stuff like that. (What I noticed was that the Australians, having come a long way when airfare was much more in real $$ - any dollars - stayed in Europe for a long time, maybe most of a year, some of them.)

The time in Vienna wasn't great though, as I'd gotten sick. I think it was just a bad allergy that I used to get once a year or so.

I must have learned my lesson regarding bathrooms and currency.

PS What happy memories you have of Vienna! Traveling, especially traveling on the cheap, does lead to those situations.

PS

Europe will fall to Islam because it turned away from the Good, the True, and the Beautiful inspired by a spirit of devotion to a higher power, and embraced the bad, false, and ugliness advocated by satanists.

If you wonder what I mean, look at nearly all Post-WW1 architecture, art, and literature pretty much anywhere in the Western World. Western Civilisation is dead; Western existence is soon to go the way of Rome. We entered the beginning of our own dark ages a century ago, and it is really starting to show.

🕉

PS: Thanks for your anecdote from the mid'70s, Mr. Blanc. You jogged my memory about something.

I came into Vienna on an overnight train trip from Germany (slept in one of those 6-seat cabins, in which the seats could slide to level). Thing is, I had to go to the bathroom for numero dos. It was 6 in the morning, and it was not cool to use the train bathrooms at the stations, seeing as how all matter excreted went straight down out of the train.

OK, then, in the station, there's a bathroom on the right. (Or maybe that was "There's a bad moon on the rise"?) Yeah, but one had to pay. You didn't have to pay to go pee, but that wasn't the deal here. There was a woman at a desk WITHIN the men's room enforcing this deal. No cash, no stall access.

There was no Euro currency then, so I needed to exchange Marks, Dollars, whatever they would take for the Austrian what-have-yous. At that point, I was not concerned with the exchange rate - no time for that! However, at 6 AM, the money exchange place was still closed. I was very lucky some dude exchanged some money with me... and pretty soon!

PS Radical Center: Islam should be judged on the basis of what Muslims do, not on the basis of what the Qur’an says or doesn’t say. Christianity should be judged on the basis of what Christians do, no on the basis of what the New Testament says or doesn’t say. Similarly for Jews, Hindus, or any other religious group.

PS: Mr. Smith, I haven't read more than 1/3 or so of Ron Unz's lengthy "American Pravda" articles. I do recognize your excerpt though.

"𝐽𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟-𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝,..." That indeed seems to have been, and be, a thing everywhere, all the rest of the details in old Russia being stuff I'll let others (like Mr. Unz) get to the bottom of*. The US State Dept. Commies in the 1930s through '50's were very over-proportionally Jewish. It's a "save the world" mentality that way too often is on the wrong track.


* I've only read one book by Mr. Solzhenitsyn, which was "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", reviewed here:

https://www.peakstupidity.com/index.php?post=1353

I would like to read more, but the length of "Gulag Archipelago" is daunting. Then, there's "200 Years Together"...

PS: The gist of my post, RC, was about the entry of masses of Moslems into the formerly Christian Western lands. I'm very much against letting this happen.

The violence brought in by the young men cannot be blamed on the religion of Islam, no. I didn't mean to imply that. They could be "Christian" MS-13 Salvadorans or fully-tattooed Venezuelans who grew up under Chavez and Maduro eating rats, and I'd want no part of them.

Even it were all ACTUAL refugee families, I'd want no part of it, though. For America, it's bad enough turning into Latin America, language, Socialist voting patterns, and incompetence-wise. They don't seem to want purposefully make their parts of America into little Mexico Cities or Caracases though.

Hell, it's bad enough getting Brits and Frenchmen, were we to get any, who are almost all left-wing compared to Americans (John Derb. is an exception), but a little old-style Paris or London would not be terrible.

The Moslems DO want to purposely establish their own laws even and turn whatever areas they have enough of a presence in, into Moslem lands on this continent (and Europe, which has the much bigger problem.) Where they are even a large minority, places turn into the lands of Islam. As individuals in small doses who want to and do assimilate, sure, I'd take a family Syrians over a family of Nigerians.

Europe will fall to Islam purely out of stupidity, the way things are going. That's a very bad thing for the future of the world.

PS I also spent some time—about ten days—in Wien during my backpacking through Europe. It was June 1976. Stayed in the campground. I did go to a coffee shop once and had a cup of coffee and a pastry. Went up to Grinzing and had a glass of wine. Went to the Prater and rode the Riesenrad. “Mann war nicht in Wien wenn mann nicht dem Riesenrad gefahren ist”. Spent a lot of time in museums and heard a lot of music, most of it free. I did pay for the Wiener Staatsoper for a performance of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Of all the cities in Europe that I’ve visited, Wien had the most Old World charm. I’ve not been back since 1976. I hate to think of what the Third World hordes have done to it. I mentioned the other day the justice that I hope we’ll get a chance to visit upon those who have destroyed the civilization that our ancestors worked so hard to create.

PS: Good afternoon, RadicalCenter & Achmed!

I tend to agree that all three Abrahamic cults have caused much more harm than good. The people of the world would do well to outgrow such harmful superstitions. And while I'm not trying to minimize the death and destruction caused by those who identify as christian or muslim I will point out that the chosenites really punch above their weight when it comes to causing death and chaos.

A quick snippet from Mr. Unz to illustrate my point...
https://www.unz.com/runz/american-pravda-understanding-world-war-ii/


𝐵𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑊𝑎𝑟 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑐𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑜𝑙𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑘 𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑡 𝑅𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝐶𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑙 𝑊𝑎𝑟, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡-𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑔, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠. 𝐼’𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑟ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑦 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑜, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟. 𝐴𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑆𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑒𝑠𝑡.

𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒, 𝑎𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑜𝑙𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑘 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑦 𝐽𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑. 𝐴𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 4% 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑎’𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝐽𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ, 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜 𝑉𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑟 𝑃𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐽𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑟ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑠 80-85% 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑆𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑊𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝐶ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑙, 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑅𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑡𝑜𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑀𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒. 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠 𝑏𝑦 𝐴𝑙𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑧ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑦𝑛, 𝑌𝑢𝑟𝑖 𝑆𝑙𝑒𝑧𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑊𝑎𝑟 𝐼𝐼, 𝐽𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟-𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝, 𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑔 𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑁𝐾𝑉𝐷.

𝐵𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝐽𝑒𝑤𝑟𝑦, 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 16 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑊𝑎𝑟 𝐼𝐼, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝐽𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠-𝑚𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑡ℎ 𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑦, ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑛𝑜 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑒𝑡, 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑦𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑚𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑠, 𝑎 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑓𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑔𝑎𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑤𝑒.


These primitive bronze age cults have held civilization back for far too long.
'twould be good to relegate them to the ash heap.

☮️

PS: I had a premonition that Radical Center would be writing in. I thank you for still reading, RC, and for replying very civilly on a topic that could get heated.

I am not in disagreement with too much of what you've written in your 2 comments. Back in the early 600's though, how old was Islam? That was Mohammad himself urging conquest of the European lands. Was he himself already getting out of "his lane" when it comes to the Koran? This is the founder of this religion, I'm talking about.

I probably shouldn't have used the term cult, as (per your writing) that'd mean all big organized religions could be called cults too. There are over a billion Moslems, I'd guess.

Just for a laugh (even if you're not a "The Office" fan), here's Creed Bratton on cults:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AopWqv-eQFM

Here's another thing. Yes, the Christian West, especially over the last century or 2, brought wars to a new level, with mass killings of civilians too. Your claims, were we to look up the numbers, are probably true. However, were the Islamic lands to have the same capability, next war, they'd be doing the same.

Look at the wars between Shiite v Sunni factions/ just as Christians fought Christians all over Europe (and Americans did too during that "late unpleasantness"), Moslems fight Moslems.

To me, one thing about Islam over history that the modern West did not participate in is the taking of slaves as booty during war. They did in Roman/Biblical times, sure, per the books, but Islamic countries have taken millions of black and worse, White, slaves over the centuries. They still practice slavery in places.

There was the now "obsolete farm equipment" in the West in that quest for cheap labor, but that's over.

Whether these practices exist in the Koran or the Bible are one thing (as for slavery, they do for the latter, I know), but I'm more concerned with the ACTUAL practices of the people today, whether they follow the books or not.

PS The number of innocent civilians intentionally murdered by professed christian US soldiers in the past century alone, dwarf anything that the world’s Muslims have done in the same time period.

Thanks to the much larger populations and the horrific industrial warfare technology now available, the christian thugs’ body count in the past century VASTLY exceeds that of the Ottomans throughout their bloody history. And that’s not even counting “world war one” and the US civil war / war between the states (good christian slavers, a topic for another day).

PS The atrocities that the Ottomans inflicted on their defeated, surrendered, captured, helpless enemies (skinning them alive or other torture, forcible rapes, etc.) are ALL expressly and categorically forbidden by the qur’an.

The qur’an also prohibits killing of any noncombatant, including women, children, old people, handicapped people, and POWs. If so-called muslims didn’t obey that command, that cannot be the fault of the writer(s) of the qur’an (who were men, not Allah, just as the Bible was written by men, not revealed by God).

After all, how well have tens of millions of self-identified “bible-believing christian” American and European soldiers obeyed the loving, peaceful, kind exhortations of jesus over the past millennium? Shall we say that Christianity is an inherently violent, cruel and intolerant cult because of their behavior contrary to the Bible’s good injunctions?

Then again, christians, adhering to the gleefully needlessly sadistic “torah” / old testament as they must, have a better claim to being “good christians” acting that way, than someone could have to being a good Muslim acting that way.

As is usually the case, christians are judging an imaginary version of islam that doesn’t exist in the qur’an, and almost none of them has even opened the qur’an, let alone carefully thoroughly read and reflected on it.

When I read these “abrahamic” cults’ “holy books”, including the satanic “OT”/torah and especially the “talmud”, I conclude that humanity is better off without all three. But there is much good to be taken from all of those books, however internally inconsistent and at times absurd they are. We should follow the good and not twist ourselves into pretzels of illogic and moral dishonesty trying to justify the entirety of any of these cults as “God’s word.”