- The expressed ambition of Shia and Sunni Radical Muslims to build a Islamic kingdom or “caliphate” that will encompass the Middle East and North Africa, and then Europe, and then North America, and then the entire world. Netanyahu did not say the caliphate would be achieved, but he rightly warned that this is what the Radicals want to achieve.
- The rise of an Iranian regime with nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that can not only reach Israel but more and more of Europe.
- An Egypt that doesn’t develop into a peaceful, moderate, secular democracy with a prominent role for the military to provide stability and security but into one of two other scenarios: A) one in which “the Islamists exploit the[ir] influence to gradually take the country into a reverse direction, not towards modernity and reform but backward; or B) one in which “Egypt would go the way of Iran, where calls for progress would be silenced by a dark and violent repression that subjugates its own people and threatens everyone else.”
“Our commitment, our goal is the maintenance and the expansion of peace. But as we think about the dramatic events that are taking place in Egypt, let’s not lose sight of an even greater earthquake, greater than everything that I described, that could rock our region and rock the world and rock each of your countries and Europe if Iran were to develop nuclear weapons.
“Here’s what Iran is doing today. It’s in Afghanistan; it’s in Iraq; it’s in the Yemen; it’s pretty much taken over Lebanon; it’s taken over Gaza; it’s in the Horn of Africa; it’s even sending its tentacles to the Western Hemisphere, penetrating Latin America. This is what Iran is doing today without nuclear weapons. Imagine what they will do tomorrow with nuclear weapons. Iran already has missiles that reach well beyond Israel. They’re not developing these long-range missiles for us; they can reach us. They’re developing it for you, to reach you. With each passing day, those missiles bring more of Europe into range. And I have some bad news for you: Jose Maria, you’re in the caliphate. They talk about a new caliphate. There’s anyone here from Romania? Borderline. Sweden? You’re out of it for now. They say they can’t possibly mean this, it cannot be that in the 21st century people speak of caliphates, of new-found empires, of an ideology that is suited not for the 21st century but for the 9th century. I urge you not to underestimate this threat to our common civilization. It’s hard for people to understand, especially for Westerners. It’s hard for them to understand fanaticism — especially if sometimes it wears a suit and a tie, or a suit without a tie. It’s very hard to understand that. But it’s there.
“You ask yourself, for example, what was the Taliban thinking when they enabled the dispatch of al-Qaida to bomb New York and Washington. What were they thinking? Were they thinking that the United States would not send an army to bring down their regime? Could they have been that crazy, or that stupid? They weren’t stupid. They were totally irrational.
“Today there’s a competition between the militant Sunnis and the militant Shiites. The militant Shiites have a state. That state is developing nuclear weapons, with unbridled ambitions for power and dominance. They see the United States as the great Satan, we’re the little Satan, and you’re somewhere in between. You’re a middle-sized Satan. That’s how they view us. And there’s no room in the world, in their world, for us and for our societies.
“I believe that the greatest threat facing the world today is the possibility that a militant Islamic regime will meet up with nuclear weapons, or that nuclear weapons will meet up with a militant Islamic regime. The first is called Iran, the second is called Pakistan. Given the events that are unfolding in our region, there are other possibilities as well. This cannot be allowed to happen.
“The good news is that nothing is inevitable. We have the power to protect our common civilization, to roll back the forces of radicalism and to advance a secure peace. One of the keys to defeating this fanaticism is to be able to distinguish friends from enemies. In this battle between the 21st century and the 9th century, between freedom and despotism, between progress and primitivism, Europe and Israel stand squarely on the same side…..”
>> New article worth noting: Muslim Brotherhood text reveals scope of radical creed
>> Jordan tribes break taboo by targeting queen
>> Ken Pollack in the WSJ: Could al Qaeda Hijack Egypt’s Revolution?
- “We should not doubt that when[al Qaeda’s Ayman] Zawahiri and his cohorts heard the news from Tahrir Square, they were probably jubilant that the revolution they had sought for so long had begun. They were likely also frustrated that they were not there to hijack it and lead it toward the radical Islamist state they seek. Zawahiri is probably doing whatever he can to play catch-up—to dispatch his supporters to Egypt to take control of the revolution.”
- “If there is a need for a speedy resolution to the present impasse, the answer should not be an accelerated move to new elections. Where elections are concerned, speed kills. Elections are an important element of democracy, but they are not synonymous with democracy. Few things can do more harm to a nascent democracy than premature elections. To see the proof, look at the Bush administration’s disastrous insistence on elections in Palestine and Iraq well before those societies were ready for them. Egypt is not ready to have good elections. It needs a new constitution and time for viable political leaders to establish parties, something the Mubarak regime prevented for 30 years. It is an open question whether eight months will be enough, but advancing that timetable would be incredibly reckless….It could be disastrous if the Brotherhood got to pick the next president of Egypt simply because it was the only organized party when elections were held.”
———————————-
- The Twelfth Imam: A Novel
- Inside The Revolution: How The Followers of Jihad, Jefferson and Jesus are Battling To Dominate The Middle East and Transform the World
- Sign up for Joel’s free email updates, “Flash Traffic”
- Join the “Epicenter Team” on Facebook
- To learn more about The Joshua Fund — watch the latest video blog — or make a secure donation online, please click here