Correct analysis, one false conclusion possibly

Submitted by Alexandros (United Kingdom), May 15, 2013 at 05:51

I absolutely agree that the problem is not Islam, but Islamism, even though i disagree to the conclusion that Islamism is supported by the minority of the Muslims. Just as Nazism was supported by the vast German majority this is what is happening with Islamism at the moment and as long as Islamism gains wins this fact is going to remain and it is going to increase.

For example, in Turkey radical Islam is the majority and the presence of a strong secularist population is still due to the power that the ghost of Kemal still has, but it is a matter of time until this is going to change in an even bigger advantage of the Islamists transforming Turkish politics in a Suni Iranian style democracy. In Libya and Egypt where the secularists never were a majority the Muslim population is in it's vast majority radicals, what works as a shield in Egypt is the existence os the huge Christian minority, Libya is a lost case! Syria is more similar to Egypt because of the existence of it's big minorities and the existence of the Assad regime which created a quite secularist society with a national sense and that is why even the majority of the Suni Syrians support the Assad, because the feel probably pore nationalists than Islamists.

In Jordan things are worse than Syria, because Jordan did not have large religious minorities, Saudi Arabia is absolutely radical, Yemen the same, Somalia the same, Iraq was less so, but because of what has happened in the country after 2003 radicals have become the vast majority. Iran has a different form of radical Islamism, i think that is very crucial to be able to separate between the Iranian regime and the new radical Islamism emerging in the other countries

I also believe that if the American government had in the past handled better in a diplomatic level the Iranian regime, then that regime would n't have turned out so bad, but in the end what we have to deal with is the current situation. Pakistan and Afghanistan are mainly populated by radical Islamists as well and the only countries that do not favour radical Islam are the ex-communist countries with a majority of Muslim population, with the exception of Chechnya and because of the war with Russia. Another radical Islamic country is Malaisia and also the African Muslims in general are in their vast majority radicals.

As a conclusion, i believe that Islamism has the momentum in the Muslim population and it's gaining more and more power and it will continue to do so as long as it is winning. Only a decisive defeat could turn the events around. The problem is that the main opponent should not be Iran, because basically Iran is the balancing force against radical Islamism, it might be a radical balancing force as well, but it is less radical than the new one. For me there are some possible solutions or things to do that could made the situation a bit better.

One very important is the absolute support, protection and enhancement of the Christian and Muslim minorities of those countries. Support of the Kurdish populations, because even though they are Muslims, they have a high national sense and they prefer their national identity than their religious one, even though Ozalan has tried to turn this around with a text probably written by Davutoglu himself. Maintain a balance between the influence of the Iranian regime and the Sunni Gulen driven Islamism and fight them both from the inside, by supporting secullarist movements.

I have written several times that the only way for democracy to prevail in the Middle East and the Islamic world, is to defeat the priests, just like it has happened everywhere in the democratic world before, this does not mean to extinct religion, but to put the priesthood in it's place and role! The Muslims must comprehend that no religion is compatible with Democracy, it is as simple as that!

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