Clash of Civilizations?

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The present rupture in Lebanon has much to do with who will lead the fightback against the West. For almost a quarter of a century there has been intense competition within the Islamist camp over who could claim leadership. For much of that period Sunni Salafist movements, backed by oil money, were in the ascendancy. They began to decline after the 9/11 attacks that deprived them of much of the support they received from Arab governments and charities. In the past five years Tehran has tried to seize the opportunity to advance its own leadership claims. The problem, however, is that Iran is a Shia power and thus regarded by Sunni Salafists as “heretical”. To compensate for that weakness, Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has made the destruction of Israel a priority for his regime. The war triggered by Hezbollah is in part designed to show that President Ahmadinejad is not bluffing when he promises to wipe Israel off the map as the first step towards defeating the “infidel” West.

The broader aspects of the Lebanon crisis are better understood in the Middle East than in the West. For the first time, Israel is under attack from Islamist and Arab secular radicals as “an American proxy”. Writing in Asharq Alawsat, a pan-Arab daily, a Syrian Cabinet minister, makes it clear that the war in Lebanon today is between “the forces of Islam and America, with Israel acting as an American proxy”.

... “Hezbollah has fought Israel longer than all the major Arab armies combined ever did,” President Ahmadinejad told a crowd in Tehran this week. He also promised that Muslims would soon hear “very good news” about the jihad against the United States.

-- Amir Taheri

This is perhaps a rather dramatic accounting. It has been known where Mr. Taheri stands on the War on Terror/Clash of Civilizations issue. Still, if the jihadists will soon get to report "very good news" about the jihad against the United States, what is especially disturbing is that a lot of Westerners, including Americans who feel some self-loathing about their country, will only feel that America has deserved it more.

Though, one would think that an attack along the lines of a 9/11, or something of an even greater religious grandeur, would be unlikely, since that could well mean the end of Tehran and possibly Damascus. But one can never be too sure about these jihadist types - the power of faith.

xXx

Clash of Civilizations?

♠
The present rupture in Lebanon has much to do with who will lead the fightback against the West. For almost a quarter of a century there has been intense competition within the Islamist camp over who could claim leadership. For much of that period Sunni Salafist movements, backed by oil money, were in the ascendancy. They began to decline after the 9/11 attacks that deprived them of much of the support they received from Arab governments and charities. In the past five years Tehran has tried to seize the opportunity to advance its own leadership claims. The problem, however, is that Iran is a Shia power and thus regarded by Sunni Salafists as “heretical”. To compensate for that weakness, Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has made the destruction of Israel a priority for his regime. The war triggered by Hezbollah is in part designed to show that President Ahmadinejad is not bluffing when he promises to wipe Israel off the map as the first step towards defeating the “infidel” West.

The broader aspects of the Lebanon crisis are better understood in the Middle East than in the West. For the first time, Israel is under attack from Islamist and Arab secular radicals as “an American proxy”. Writing in Asharq Alawsat, a pan-Arab daily, a Syrian Cabinet minister, makes it clear that the war in Lebanon today is between “the forces of Islam and America, with Israel acting as an American proxy”.

... “Hezbollah has fought Israel longer than all the major Arab armies combined ever did,” President Ahmadinejad told a crowd in Tehran this week. He also promised that Muslims would soon hear “very good news” about the jihad against the United States.

-- Amir Taheri

This is perhaps a rather dramatic accounting. It has been known where Mr. Taheri stands on the War on Terror/Clash of Civilizations issue. Still, if the jihadists will soon get to report "very good news" about the jihad against the United States, what is especially disturbing is that a lot of Westerners, including Americans who feel some self-loathing about their country, will only feel that America has deserved it more.

Though, one would think that an attack along the lines of a 9/11, or something of an even greater religious grandeur, would be unlikely, since that could well mean the end of Tehran and possibly Damascus. But one can never be too sure about these jihadist types - the power of faith.

xXx