Radical Islam Is Invincible
The West Is Incapable of Dealing with Radical Islam
The war waged by Americans and Israelis against Iran and its terrorist proxies exposes the truth that the West has been trying to conceal for many years: we are witnessing an inevitable clash of civilizations, between two fundamentally different patterns of thought, with very little prospect of bridging the gap between them.
The Muslim Brotherhood, regarded as an extremist Islamist movement, is supported by Qatar; a state often mischaracterized as representing moderate Islam. In other words, the boundaries between radical and moderate Islam are severely blurred. Therefore, we cannot rule out the possibility that the clash of civilizations between the West and Islam is far greater in scope than we currently imagine.
The term radical Islam itself requires clarification, as this umbrella covers terrorist organizations such as ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Boko Haram, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other non-state movements. Alongside them stand states that, while not officially classified as such, actively support Islamic terrorism in practice. These include Iran, Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, Chechnya, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Lebanon (until October 2023).
The West generally faces three options:
- Actual War
War against radical Islam, as America and Israel have waged against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxies; Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the Houthis, and Iraqi militias. European countries do not even contemplate such a war out of fear. Yet, an Islamic state cannot be defeated by military force alone. The American administration is highly sensitive to two issues that appear laughable to radical Islam: fuel prices and military casualties. Since the Arab Spring, millions of Muslims have been slaughtered by radical Islamists; the elderly, women, and children alike, in a catastrophe on a scale comparable to the major genocides of the twentieth century. The corrupt United Nations has looked the other way, Islamic states have remained silent, and Arab nations have absolved themselves of responsibility. You cannot deter regimes that slaughter their own citizens on an industrial scale by targeting their soldiers, nor can you threaten impoverished nations with economic sanctions. Poverty is jihad, and the reward for jihadists lies in paradise, not in this world. No Western value can compete with such a worldview.
- Containment and Accommodation
This strategy merely postpones the Islamist assault on Western civilization. Muslims fleeing fellow Muslims in the Middle East are treated like royalty in the West. Western governments naively believe refugees will integrate and enrich European society and its economy, marketing what is effectively a quiet invasion to their citizens. Yet, a substantial portion of asylum seekers does not recognize their host countries. They despise the societies that showed them kindness, brand Europeans as infidels, and preach the collapse of Western civilization.
- Surrender
The gradual transfer of power in Western Europe into Muslim hands is the worst option of all, yet some still advocate it. The number of Islamists holding public office, serving as mayors, and sitting in parliaments is growing. They benefit not only from the votes of Muslim immigrants, but also from Christians and Jews who foolishly place their future in the hands of jihadists; believing that joining the campaign against the Jewish state will buy them favorable treatment. Radical Islam has never rewarded those who surrender to it.
Conclusion
Faced with three grim options, one must rank them from bad to worse. War is certainly terrible, but less so than containment or surrender; it is a war for the survival of Western civilization. It sounds bleak, but this clash could last a thousand years. As Khamenei noted, Islam possesses strategic patience. Does the West possess the same? I highly doubt it.
Save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance; and tend them, and carry them for ever…
