by Barry Rubin
(Shia Islamism, important mainly because of Iran and especially because of its nuclear ambitions, is number two on the threat list. But that's not our topic today.)
Focusing on the Sunni revolutionary Islamist tidal wave, the foundation of knowledge is that there are three types and they are all bad, very bad. A lot of people are going to be misinforming you about this and getting others — never themselves, of course — killed.
Sometimes people ask me why I use the phrase "revolutionary" Sunni Islamism. The reason is to remind everyone that this is a revolutionary movement like those of the past that seek to use a variety of strategies and tactics — of which violence might be only one — to seize, hold, and use state power to transform societies.
Some ask why I use the word "Islamism" and the reason is because this is a specific, conscious set of organized political movements. However theology is related to this issue the problem is political, not theological. Anyone who watched over decades as I have how the radicals had to sell the idea that "jihad" today meant picking up guns, cutting off people's heads, overthrowing governments, and assembling mobs of thousands screaming for death and destruction, would have no illusion that they had an easy time of it.
Read More:
http://www.think-israel.org/rubin.sunniislamthreat.html
No comments:
Post a Comment