Journey Into Islam

Tony Blankley is one of those clear thinkers on international affairs who is worth reading.  His review of a new book by Dr. Akbar Ahmed, an Islamic scholar at American University is sobering.

Dr Ahmed's book, "Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization," shows the radical view of many on the street in the Arab world...

His conclusion: Due to both misjudgments by the United States and
regrettable developments in Muslim attitudes, "The poisons are
spreading so rapidly that without immediate remedial action, no
antidote may ever be found." And Dr. Ahmed has always been an optimist.

It seems this is the stark reality facing the world. This is the reality of Muslim attitudes in today's world.

Fatah Isn't the Answer

Michael Oren wrote "Power, Faith and Fantasy", a thorough history of America's involvement in the Middle East from 1776 to the present. He weighs in on Hamas and Fatah in this piece from today's WSJ (sub req). He opens with this...

America and its Middle Eastern allies have every reason to panic. The
green flags of Hamas are furling over Gaza and the al-Fatah forces
trained and financed by the United States have ignominiously fled.
Fears are rife that Iranian-backed and Syrian-hosted terror will next
achieve dominance over the West Bank and proceed to undermine the
pro-Western governments of Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and the Gulf.

America and the EU have today announced they will lift embargoes to the Palestinian Authority and begin sending money.  This is meant to buy friends and "lovers" persuading Palestinians to back the corrupt Fatah government, the only hope for a "reasonable" party to work through in this present mess. The problem is Fatah is corrupt to its core and Mahmoud Abbas has proven to be an ineffective leader. Hamas came to power in part as a reaction to the entrenched corruption of Fatah under Yassir Arafat.

Money will not buy peace in this arena.