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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (148723)	11/26/2005 9:54:44 AM
From: el_gaviero	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793761

Ah, Nadine, my old sparring partner. “Islamism has been around since long before Israel was even created in 1948...” .... indeed .... since Napoleon...... I suppose my first response is to point out that “Islamism” has been around since 650 (or whenever it was that the sheepherder, Mohammed, got a bee in his bonnet). The relevant consideration is not whether Islamism exists but WHAT IT IS. A definition would be useful, so we know what we are talking about. If by Islamism you mean Arab nationalism, then we face a bit of a threat as long as we stomp around in their part of the world. But threats of the sort that Arab nationalists present are pretty much a normal part of human existence, dealt with in the normal way i.e. with police action, with an intelligence agency that is uncorrupted and that actually brings a modicum of intelligence to the problem, and with war as a last resort, for clear violation, and with limited clearly defined objectives. No Arab state then or now (especially Iraq) is or was a threat to us of sufficient gravity to justify a resort to war. If by “Islamism” you mean the slow occupation by Muslims of Europe and to some extent even of America, and their refusal or inability to assimilate, then the problem is immense. But, to be accurate, the problem is not them but us. (I consider myself to be a European who lives in America so I use the word “us.”). Our demoralization, our sinking into stupidity and vulgarity, our vulnerability to the style and ways of alien people with their alien sensibilities is the source of the trouble. To overcome our demoralization is a huge task. Getting involved in wars in far away places that do not serve our interest, in fact that are a reflection of our confusion, is the worse possible thing that we can do.