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Islamist Realities

(Jerusalem Post) Efraim Karsh - The depiction of Muslims as hapless victims of the aggressive encroachments of others, too dim to be accountable for their own fate, is not only patronizing but the inverse of the truth. The story of Islam has been the story of the rise and fall of an often-astonishing imperial aggressiveness and of never quiescent imperialist dreams that haunt Islamic and Middle Eastern politics into the 21st century. Even as these dreams have repeatedly frustrated any possibility for the peaceful social and political development of the Arab-Muslim world, they have given rise to repeated fantasies of revenge and restoration and to murderous efforts to transform fantasy into fact. If, today, America is reviled in the Muslim world, it is not because of its specific policies but because, as the preeminent world power, it blocks the final realization of this same age-old dream of regaining the lost glory of the caliphate. The writer is professor emeritus of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies at King's College London and professor of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University.
2015-02-27 00:00:00
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