There is a fiendish cunning in the strategy of ISIS and other jihadists. Their aim is to make Christians hate Muslims by committing hideous acts of terrorism and savagery against them, in the hope of fomenting an armageddon war of Islam versus Christendom. Knowing that this is what they are trying to do, Western leaders desperately try to damp things down by saying after every attrocity that it's nothing to do with Islam; Islam is a religion of peace. The trouble with this tactic is that it is screamingly obvious to anyone with anything between the ears that it very much is about Islam - specifically about its Wahhabist and Salafi Jihadist elements which, backed by huge Saudi resources, are rapidly expanding in power and spreading around the world. So every time our leaders trot out this clearly untrue refrain the number of people denouncing and expressing hatred of and contempt for Muslims grows. This delights the jihadists, who plan yet more horrors to get even more of the same.
Do I conclude from this that we should all join in the "Not about Islam, Islam is a religion of peace" chorus? No I don't. Firstly because it will not defeat the jihadists, it will just make them amplify their savagery. Secondly because the more that falsehood is shouted the more the flames of hatred of Muslims will be fanned in the West. And thirdly because our leaders now need to be shouting from the rooftops that the problem is Wahhabism and Salafi Jihadism and that the Saudi Arabian government and others who support them must stop doing so or face the condemnation of the civilised world and coordinated action against their interests. I do not believe that this will significantly inflame hitherto peaceful, law-abiding Muslims to support the jihadists; quite the opposite in fact.
The best hope for the world now is that Trump may be willing and able to work with Putin to lead us in that direction.
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