Russian version
Why Islam — and why now?
- Информация о материале
- Автор: Victor Davis Hanson
Jewish World Review Dec.
21, 2006 / 30 Kislev, 5767
Read any newspaper or turn on any news broadcast and you're bound to
encounter stories of Islamic radicals fighting, killing and threatening
each other — and just about everyone else.
In Somalia, jihadists, with the support of al-Qaida, have clashed with
troops loyal to the country's internationally recognized interim government
and now threaten neighboring Ethiopia with all-out war.
Nearby in Darfur, Muslim militiamen called janjaweed are waging genocide
against black Christian and animist villagers — apparently with the consent
of the Sudanese government.
Shiite and Sunni militias, each claiming to represent true Islam, keep
slaughtering each other in Iraq.
Hezbollah ("Party of G-d") seeks to destroy democracy in Lebanon by
provoking Israel, which it is sworn to eliminate.
On the West Bank, Hamas and Fatah have taken a timeout from their attacks
on Israel to murder each other and innocent bystanders.
The Iranian Shiite theocracy — when not hosting Holocaust deniers or
sending terrorists into Iraq — issues serial pledges to finish off Israel.
The shaky Pakistani leadership pleads that it can neither target Osama
bin Laden nor stop Taliban jihadists hiding out in the remote regions of
Pakistan from streaming back into Afghanistan.
In Europe, opera producers, novelists, cartoonists and filmmakers are
increasingly circumspect out of fear of death threats from Islamists.
While each conflict is unique and rooted in its own history, the common
thread — radical Islam — is obvious. It's thus worth asking why this violent,
intolerant strain of Islam has taken hold in so many unstable places —
and at this particular time.
The ascent of radical Islam is, perhaps, the natural culmination of
a century's worth of failed political systems in Muslim countries that
were driven by morally bankrupt ideologies, led by cruel dictators, or
both.
In the 1930s, German-style fascism appealed to Arabs in Palestine and
Egypt. Soviet-style communism had sympathetic governments in Afghanistan,
Algeria and Yemen. Baathism took hold in Syria and Iraq. The secular Egyptian
dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser promised a new pan-Arabism that would do away
with colonial borders that divided the "the Arab nation." Then there is
the more pragmatic authoritarianism that survives in Muammar el-Qaddafi's
Libya or in the petrol-monarchies in the Gulf.
Radical Islam may be as totalitarian and as morally bankrupt as any
of these past or mostly defunct "isms," but its current appeal isn't hard
to figure out. Unlike fascism or communism, radical Islam is locally grown,
and not plagued by charges of foreign contamination. Indeed, Islamists
claim to wage jihad against the modernism and globlization of the outside,
mostly Westernized world. Such a message resonates in stagnant, impoverished
Muslim countries.
Of course, while the people of the region may be poor, the Islamist
movement isn't. Huge oil profits filter throughout the Muslim world, allowing
Islamists to act on their rhetoric. In today's world, militias can easily
acquire everything from shoulder-held anti-aircraft missiles to rocket-propelled
grenades. With such weapons, and on their own turf, Islamists can nullify
billion-dollar Western jets and tanks.
There is still another reason for the rise of Islamists: They sense
a new hesitation in the West. We appear to them paralyzed over oil prices
and supplies and fears of terrorism. And so they have also waged a brilliant
propaganda war, adopting the role of victims of Western colonialism, imperialism
and racism. In turn, much of the world seems to tolerate their ruthlessness
in stifling freedom, oppressing women and killing nonbelievers.
So how, aside from killing jihadist terrorists, can we defend ourselves
against the insidious spread of radical Islam? Here are a few starting
suggestions:
Bluntly identify radical Islam as fascistic — without worrying whether
some Muslims take offense when we will talk honestly about the extremists
in their midst.
At the same time, keep encouraging consensual governments in the Middle
East and beyond that could offer people security and prosperity, while
distancing ourselves from illegitimate dictators, especially in Syria and
Iran, that promote terrorists.
Establish that no more autocracies in the Middle East and Asia will
be allowed to get the bomb.
Seek energy independence that would collapse the world price of oil,
curbing petrodollar subsidies for terrorists and our own appeasement of
their benefactors.
Appreciate the history and traditions of a unique Western civilization
to remind the world that we have nothing to apologize for but rather much
good to offer to others.
Finally, keep confident in a war in which our will and morale are every
bit as important as our overwhelming military strength. The jihadists claim
that we are weak spiritually, but our past global ideological enemies —
Nazism, fascism, militarism and communism — all failed. And so will they.
© 2006, TMS
Russian version
Russian version
An introduction to MAOF
Haim Goldman
Haim Goldman
Dear Friends,
Would you believe that the undersigned has anything in common with
-- Professor Victor Davis Hanson (Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University),
-- Dr Charles Krauthammer, (Washington Post, Time, The Weekly Standard),
-- Caroline Glick (Deputy Managing Editor of the Jerusalem Post),
-- Jonathan Tobin (Executive Editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent).
Amazingly, the editors of the MAOF website decided that the missives of the undersigned are worthy of translation and posting along the articles written by these distinguished authors.
The first letter was published without the consent of the undersigned.
However, after thorough examination of the laudable attitude of MAOF and of the excellent contents of the website, the undersigned had most graciously granted his permission for publication of his missives in both English and Russian.
“Analytical Group MAOF” [1] is an organisation founded about ten years ago by Russian-speaking Jewish intellectuals. The attitude of MAOF is definitely pro-Zionist -- unambiguously and unapologetically.
One of MAOF’s primary purposes is providing information and analysis about Middle-Eastern and world affairs as well as about Israel’s history, values and dilemmas. In addition to extensive publication activity in various media, MAOF also organises excursions and seminars. While the vast majority of the contents of the MAOF website is in Russian, texts originally written in English are provided in the original [2] as well as in Russian.
There are arguably about 250 millions of Russian-speakers worldwide and many of them do not read English. The indisputable motivation for the author’s permission was to grant those millions of disadvantaged people the grand benefit of reading the author’s ruminations. If the author is ever maliciously accused that his tacit motivation for authorising the publication was his craving to be listed along with the above-mentioned distinguished writers, his plea will definitely be “nolo contendere”.
The editors of MAOF expressed their gratitude by granting the undersigned a privilege that no other author got – the opportunity to review and correct the Russian translation before publication. The original letters of the undersigned are at [3] and their Russian version is at [4]. At of today, only two letters are posted but several other letters are pending translation.
You are kindly ENCOURAGED TO RECOMMEND the MAOF website to your friends and colleagues worldwide, particularly those who speak Russian. Those who do not enjoy the benefit of proficiency in the exquisite Russian language can find many thought-provoking and inspiring articles about Middle-Eastern and world affairs in the English section [2].
Sincerely,
Haim Goldman
28.10.2006
REFERENCES:
[1] http://maof.rjews.net
[2] section.php3? sid=37&num=25
[3] authorg.php3? id=2107&type=a
[4] authorg.php3? id=2166&type=a