Cliff: You’re right, of course, that circumstances are different, and more dangerous, today than a century ago — nukes, billions of petrodollars, and a timorous Western public (and elites). But the fact remains that Islam isn’t going to modernize until Muslims themselves feel its failure in their bones — and it’s happening in Iran because when you’ve been in charge for 25 years and have piles of cash at your disposal, it’s hard to blame your problems on the Elders of Zion. Punitive military expeditions are going to be needed, but mainly what’s needed is what worked with the Bolsheviks — containment — and that entails turning oil back into an ordinary (as opposed to a strategic) resouce, a la the Set America Free project of Frank Gaffney and Jim Woolsey and others.