Obama's rating among Arabs

Submitted by Ted (United States), Aug 10, 2010 at 02:50

Dear Dr Pipes:

I am not surprised that President Obama's rating has slumped among arabs. You can be appeased only if your demands are reasonable and small. But if your ambitions are as large as destroying Israel, or establishing nations of Islam, or bringing the entire humanity to a certain belief system, it is not likely that you will be appeased by a few references to your ideas in a couple of speeches. It is impossible to appease Islamists. The more concessions they get, the more dissatisfied they become.

If you watch the news stories around the world, the entire planet isunder a siege at the hand of Islamists -- 90% of the world's conflicts involve Islamist causes, 90% of the peace efforts are directed toward Islamist's wars and 90% of the carrots are being offered to Islamists. This siege is not going to stop by appeasement.

The only way this siege will end is when Islam and Islamists get tired of each other. That day is not too distant. Defending every tiny principle of Islam at all costs will force Islamist to act in a confused manner and resort to extreme measures. That will make them target of muslim's own anger and ridicule. Recently there was a fatwa in India stating that appointment of muslim women to judiciary was haram. It took no time before this fatwa was opposed and ridiculed by educated muslim women of India. Certainly, no Muslim judge resigned her post (everyone has to make a living). Similarly, the recent banning of facebook and youtube in Pakistan turned out to be of no consequence.

The recent episodes of sentencing women to death by stoning in Iran for moral trangressions and subsequent reversal of these sentences indicate the confused state of Islamists' mind and remind me of the days when Russian communists used to perscute people like Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Just like the Russian communism, fundamentalist Islam is going to crack under its own burden. Then no appeasement will be necessary.

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