The War for Islam

Since the Iraq War, sectarian conflict between Shiites and Sunnis has emerged as a major fissure in Middle East politics — fueling conflicts in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen; a resurgence of extremism and the scourge of the Islamic State; and an escalation in tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia which has become the most significant clash between regional rivals in decades. From country to country, across the region, sectarian conflict is the thread that runs through each crisis, tying them into a strategic Gordian knot.

Why Shiite Expansion Will Be Short-Lived

Forecast

• That a bloc of Shiite states has coalesced in the Middle East is a significant geopolitical development; that it is led by Iran means it could be short lived.
• In fact, the bloc's formation and expansion, such as they are, were possible only through the division and weakness of Sunni Arab states.
• Several factors, most notably the Syrian civil war and ethnic and religious constraints, will prevent Iran from projecting Shiite influence farther than it already has.

A War Between Two Worlds

The murders of cartoonists who made fun of Islam and of Jews shopping for their Sabbath meals by Islamists in Paris last week have galvanized the world. A galvanized world is always dangerous. Galvanized people can do careless things. It is in the extreme and emotion-laden moments that distance and coolness are most required. I am tempted to howl in rage. It is not my place to do so. My job is to try to dissect the event, place it in context and try to understand what has happened and why. From that, after the rage cools, plans for action can be made. Rage has its place, but actions must be taken with discipline and thought.

I have found that in thinking about things geopolitically, I can cool my own rage and find, if not meaning, at least explanation for events such as these. As it happens, my new book will be published on Jan. 27. Titled Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe, it is about the unfolding failure of the great European experiment, the European Union, and the resurgence of European nationalism. It discusses the re-emerging borderlands and flashpoints of Europe and raises the possibility that Europe's attempt to abolish conflict will fail. I mention this book because one chapter is on the Mediterranean borderland and the very old conflict between Islam and Christianity. Obviously this is a matter I have given some thought to, and I will draw on Flashpoints to begin making sense of the murderers and murdered, when I think of things in this way.

The Arab Spring, Islam and oil wealth

A poster of Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi adorns the wall of a shop in Cairo's Gamaliya district, where he spent his childhood, Jan. 21, 2014. Three years after the "Arab Spring" toppled Hosni Mubarak, a secretive general with a cult-like following is expected to win Egypt's presidency.  

 

 

Both the western and eastern parts of the Arab world today seem quite different than three years ago, when the so-called Arab Spring started. Several regimes are gone and have been replaced by new forces that are trying to reformulate their countries’ “regimes” with varying degrees of success.

How People in Muslim Countries Think Women Should Dress

How respondents in various countries said women should dress. (Pew Research Center)

Wearing some form of head covering in public is an important sign of Islamic identity in many Muslim-majority countries, but there is considerable variation in the extent to which women are expected (and sometimes mandated) to cover up. 

Brotherhood Says U.S. Diplomats Urged It to Accept Ouster of Morsi

CAIRO — As the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies vowed to broaden their protests against the president’s ouster and their opponents held enormous counterdemonstrations, American diplomats sought to persuade the Islamist group to accept his overthrow, its officials said.

Lessons from Woolwich: The Dangers of Britain's Islamist Underground

Where did the hatred that led to the murder of a soldier in Woolwich come from? Radical hate preacher Anjem Choudary knew one of the assailants and says he is proud of having "a big influence" on his life. The attack demonstrates how difficult it is to prevent Islamist violence in Britain.

An Islamic Declaration of War on Christianity

While it is easy to confuse the recent jihadi attack on Egypt's St. Mark Cathedral in Cairo as just more of the usual, this attack has great symbolic significance, and in many ways bodes great evil for Egypt's millions of Christians.

Consider some facts: St. Mark Cathedral—named after the author of the Gospel of the same name who brought Christianity to Egypt some 600 years before Amr bin al-As brought Islam by the sword—is not simply "just another" Coptic church to be attacked and/or set aflame by a Muslim mob (see my forthcoming book, Crucified Again: Exposing Islam's New War on Christians, for a comprehensive idea of past and present Muslim attacks on Coptic churches). 

Arab Islamists and the Turkish model

It has become quite fashionable these days to be cynical about the prospects of democracy in the Arab world.

Many international observers argue that the Arab Spring has turned into an Islamist winter. They focus on the violent clashes in the streets of Tunis and Cairo, the frustration about unmet expectations of more jobs and especially the authoritarian practices of the ruling Islamists.

Tunisia’s revolution annexed

by Serge Halimi

Almost everyone in Tunisia believes that the benefits of the revolution are in danger. Perhaps from a “secular” opposition that refuses to admit that the conservative An-Nahda Islamists were the clear winners in the National Constituent Assembly elections in October 2011. Or from the An-Nahda Islamists, who want to use their victory to infiltrate the state from within, while exploiting the fear inspired by the Salafist militias. Or simply from a political circus reminiscent of the Fourth French Republic, with parliamentary alliances breaking up as soon as a member was not appointed, big surprises forgotten next day, innumerable tiny groups endlessly redefining their position. Meanwhile, mining production is down, tourism is shaky, insecurity is worsening and hundreds of young Tunisians have left to join the jihadis fighting in Syria, Algeria and Mali.

Assad’s troops retreat from Golan, leaving Islamist rebels to confront Israel

Syrian rebels occupy Golan

President Bashar Assad has evacuated most of the troops of his 5^th Army Division from their permanent bases on the Golan opposite Israeli forces and transferred the unit along with its artillery to Damascus,DEBKAfile’s military sources report.

The Syrian ruler’s step had three purposes:
1. To reinforce his Damascus defenses;

2. To carve out a buffer zone along the Israeli border and leave it under rebel control.

A Muhammad Cartoon a Day

Daniel Pipes 

When Salman Rushdie mocked Islamic sanctities in 1989 in his magical realist novel The Satanic Verses, Ayatollah Khomeini did something shockingly original: He pronounced a death edict on Rushdie and all those connected to the production of his book. By doing this, Khomeini sought to impose Islamic mores and laws on the West; we don't insult the prophet, he effectively said, and neither can you.

That started a trend of condemning those in the West deemed anti-Islamic that persists to this day. again and again, when Westerners are perceived as denigrating Muhammad, the Koran, or Islam, Islamists demonstrate, riot and kill.