Saturday, December 18, 2004

Islamist Totalitarianism

Paul Berman writes on the Roots of Mid-East Terror. Pay attention to his explanation of Western confusion over the nature of Islamism, and its connections to past Western confusion over the nature of communism and fascism/Nazism. On the other hand, his claim that "millions of Iraqis were fanatical adherents of a mass totalitarian movement, and were willing to die for it" is exaggerated at best.

On the same page of the paper up here, columnist David Warren, in a good examination of Mahmoud Abbas, has the following quote: "Perhaps the reason we are reading comparatively less about 'Israel/Palestine' lately is that there is so much real news, and so much of it is astounding, and hopeful. The media is allergic to good news, and run from it as from holy water." Sound familiar?

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