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Entry: Let's Sit Out World War IV Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/lets_sit_out_world_war_iv#8803 Post contents: LaTulippe is simplifying here very complex political conflicts occurring across the globe. The so called "political" or "radical" Islamic movements are generally using Islam as a rhetorical tool to rally people to their cause and to ideologically legitimate tactics and goals within societies where Islam substantially influences culture and identity.For the most part, these movements are fueled by local and idiosyncratic grievances which only have become anti-Western or anti-US because the West and/or US is perceived as supporting or controlling the ruling establishment or otherwise influencing the internal politics of the society in question. If the US and the West in general were to take a more non-interventionist approach to the Islamic world, these groups, including al-Qaeda, would be forced to focus on internal, non-Western enemies (such as the Shiites) or they die on the vine. Moreover, there has been far too little appreciation (and exploitation) of the enormous limitations of radical Islam's Salafi ideology within the wider context of Sunni and Shiite parts of the Islamic world. The news media has widely publicized the fact that 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia and that Saudi Arabia is the main source of funding and recruits for the al-Qaeda terrorist group. Al-Qaeda's tie to Saudi Arabia is not accidental, rather it clearly relates to the religious dominance of the Wahabi sect over the Kingdom. The Wahabi sect preaches an extremely austere, anti-modernist religious and social ideology that really isn't compatible with the sectarian character of the vast majority of Sunni and Shiite world outside of the Gulf states. Minus the (admittedly many) local and idiosyncratic grievances of the Islamic world, Salafism is unlikely to garner much religious interest among the 95% of Shiites and Sunnis who make up the Islamic world. Furthermore, it doesn't get much attention in the US press, but there is a free market capitalist revolution occurring throughout the Middle East and the larger Islamic world which is having a much more profound effect than radical Islam (this trend in turn is also leading to political liberalization and modernization but it admittedly lags the embrace of free market capitalism that is occurring). The UAE, for instance, located in the Gulf and traditionally (mostly) Wahabi in its religious beliefs, is a bastion of Western style capitalism and a widely discussed model among the political elites of the Middle East, including Iran. Egypt, to cite another example, was recently cited by the World Bank as the country whose business climate most improved over the past year (it went up about fifty country rankings). These trends toward free market capitalism are far more significant than radical Islam and I would predict a strong trend toward greater convergence between the West and Middle East and the larger Islamic world in the near future. Sent at: 2008 09 08