About the “Friendly Questions” article and… the big picture in general.
inthenationalinterest.com
Interesting article, albeit spoiled by things like the (obligatory) throwing together of Stalin, Hitler and Ariel Sharon… Also, while trying to speak from a broad point of view, the article is basically Eurocentric. The author speaks about constructive ways of dealing with the threat of terrorism, but only slides briefly over the fact that there is only one serious threat to world stability right now – and that is the Radical Islamic Fundamentalism. (In the end, a quasi-fascist dictatorship like Iraq, or for that matter PLO, are only sideshows).
It appears that the driving force behind the actions by al-Qaeda and similar organizations is an impulse towards resurgence of Islam as a world power. The notion of separation of people’s religious and national-communal lives (Church and State) is unacceptable to them. They consider their governments to be corrupt puppets. The extremists cannot possibly advance their plans without radicalizing the populations of Muslim countries and taking political power.
Perhaps, in the future the Muslim extremists would seriously consider taking on the rest of the world in a direct conflict, but at present, we, the West, are probably just a means to an end – which is to shift the political consensus of Muslim masses in the direction which they desire. Bombing of Manhattan is in large part just a means of bringing the US into the conflict – in such a way as to help radicalize the masses of Muslims worldwide.
In short, the purpose of radical Islamists is to divide the world by a new Iron Curtain – the Clash of Civilizations.
Whether or not they will be victorious in creating such a new geopolitical balance, time will show, but – at this point – they need opportunities to “rejuvenate” Islam, and put it on what they consider to be the correct path. They will continue to keep up tensions worldwide, using terror when needed, exacerbating conflicts, provoking hostilities, inflaming passions.
…And that is how I think the cookie’s gonna crumble.
This brings us to one last point: The people who are at the greatest risk are the millions of moderate Muslims. If the world divides, we’ll do just fine on our side of the barricades… We lived with an Iron Curtain for generations, and will be able to do so again. Those Moderates, however, will have as hard a time as what the Russians had under Stalin (or Grozny), or Cambodians under Pol Pot.
One would expect that all this would be widely understood, and my guess is that it is. What will make a great difference for the future is how the Muslim world will deal with he danger facing them. If they will be able to control the extremist forces in their midst, promote true coexistence, help resolve conflicts constructively – much trouble may be avoided. If, on the other hand, they will continue flirting with the extremists, and primarily focus on various secondary issues – and I think that the Palestinian issue relatively speaking is one of them – then, we can expect Osama blin Laden and his clones to move out of caves – and into Presidential Palaces. |
