[Xantar]

Just to be clear, are we saying that the Middle East states are going to blow up into violent blood baths because they're Islamic or because they're radical? After all, Indonesia and Turkey are doing just fine, and at one time it was the Islamic world that was the most tolerant and diverse civilization on earth.

The problem in Palestine is that the people are under thrall to a corrupt regime (with the possible exception of Mahmoud Abbas) that doesn't care about them. I often think that the worst thing that could happen to Hamas is the destruction of Israel because then the Palestinians would look around and realize that their life still sucks and the Israelis weren't being so bad to them after all.

Not that I think Israel or the Western world is totally blameless either since the process of Israel's creation, while well-intentioned, was pretty flawed as well.

P.S. The Clash of Civilizations by Huntington is a worthwhile read but not a terribly good analysis, in my opinion.

P.P.S. Oh, and those Paris riots from a while ago which burned hundreds of cars? Just to be clear, those were not Islamic riots. In fact, a lot of the rioters there were Jewish. As well as Arab and African. It wasn't a problem of religion. It was a problem of "foreigners" vs. "French."