With respect to Mark Krikorian (and I mean that sincerely – not as the wind-up for a punch), my problem with the strategy of allowing the establishment of “two, three, many Islamic republics, each one inevitably an example of Islam’s bankruptcy” is that it may not be possible for the oppressed populations of these states to throw off their chains.

It was one thing for the Indians to kick out the Brits after WW2. But how long do you think it would have taken the Czechoslovaks, Poles, and French to rid themselves of Nazi rule — absent outside intervention?

And the problem, in my view, with the idea of us “separating” ourselves from Militant Islamism is that it is not clear that we can effectively separate ourselves from an international terrorist network such as al Qaeda, or from a nuclear-armed, internationalist terrorist sponsor like Iran hopes to be in the not distant future. It’s sure going to require a lot of concrete barriers and metal detectors.

Mark’s piece is here.