Peace or Threat

Introduction

 ‘Islamists’ in the new millennium have shown their ‘colours’ already in the West through violence. Now a new ‘charter’ is being demanded by Muslim leaderships in the West to accompany Islam communities’ (seemingly unstoppable) growth in America and Europe. Many ‘westerners’ today believe there can be no peaceable ‘middle way’ which this website would believe in. There is what might be called ‘evil abroad’ in the world, something that is somehow greater than the destructive capacity in each of us. This was the latter comment was the thoughtful view of one (UK) national author and commentator recently. Is all this too, too negative and unhopeful? Can there integration and assimilation and peaceful co-existence - with immigrants as so many have for decades gaining education, offering undoubted loyalty, achieving career success and contributing meaningfully to their host nation? Or will intransigent religious minorities (continue to) capture leaderships, foment change even insurrection – and cause an immense backlash, locally and nationally? Or is ‘the West’ - despite its armed capabilities even superiority - now reacting too late for civilised, principled solutions over culture-clash and extremism threat, abroad and at home? ‘The aims of Islamists in the USA is to use democracy to destroy democracy’ is the warning of many political and cultural observers. It is hard to see peaceful co-existence as a probability in that.