The sad truth is that Arabs, taken as a group, as a political entity (which always includes an admixture of jihadists and thugs) make it impossible to be nice to them, because they take it for weakness.
There is a extremely long article on this subject at TCS today. The Muslim Renovatio and U.S. Strategy, By Michael Vlahos. Vlahos is currently a senior member of the Joint Warfare Analysis Department at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Maryland. He is a graduate of Yale University, and received both his masters and Ph.D from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University. techcentralstation.com
Vlahos believes that our view that we are dealing with "Terrorists" and that this is a "Civil War" within the Muslim world is incorrect. He thinks we are dealing with neither terrorism nor civil war, but rather a "world-historical" movement of Islamic revival.
This alternative model suggests that terrorism cannot be truly abstracted as a separate phenomenon within the Muslim World, but instead must be seen as part of a bigger change movement within that world. Likewise, there is no civil war between mythical "moderates" - meaning "reasonable" Muslims who just want to live and let live - and wild-eyed "radicals" who would burn it all down. In contrast the larger Islamist restoration movement seeks to purify the Muslim World of corrupt and apostate tyrants. The movement has many elements and agendas, and thus many paths to this goal. Like many broad movements with revolutionary goals, most are non-violent. The example of Islamists in Egypt and Turkey suggests that the majority of Islamists seek their goals through peaceful means, and the world they would create is couched in surprisingly moderate and tolerant terms.
But the goal shared by all Islamists is nonetheless a radical goal. The restoration of Islam would mean an end to Western style secular civil society in the Muslim World, even if it led to an Islamic civil society that Westerners might not find uncomfortable.
A bit "Academic," but worth a look. |
