Height of naivete

Submitted by PPS (United States), May 31, 2010 at 03:12

Dear Dr Pipes, anyone who expected that President Obama will win any middle-eastern hearts by doling out dollars to Pakistan, delivering a speech in Cairo, appointing some Muslims in his administration, and devising new terminologies for terrorism and terrorists, was naive. When the majority of population in a regions is semi literate, is disinterested in learning new ideas, is opposed to continued refinement of thought, and is committed to establishing its ideological supremacy on the rest of the world, expecting that President Obama will change any hearts or minds in two years is expecting too much. Besides, appeasement as a political tool never works (that is not to say that violence as a poltical tool works any better).

The Islamist ideology managed to survive in the last 50 years due to the oil wealth. An economic and social failure alone is what will force Islamist societies to change. The economic failure is delayed due to the oil wealth but the social failure is well under progress. The senseless killings that are going on in the countries which should have been very peaceful and prosperous (e.g. Iran, Iraq) under almost any other political system than islamist indicate the process of social failure is well under way. The plight of poorer Islamic states is even worse (e.g. Pakistan, Afghanistan).

President Obama gets credit for reducing the cycle of violence that President Bush supported. Any act of violence against them gives the fundamentalists another reason to recruit new supporters and blame others for their own failures. No one should be surprised that Obama won no hearts.

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