Communicating Arts - Main Web Site"When we're not advancing, we are retreating. And right now we are not spreading, we are not achieving our goals," the Brotherhood's second-in-command, Mohamed Habib, said in an interview. [1]
No one likes being really unpopular, not even Islamists, and this month has been a hard one.
Despite the continued fighting in Somalia, the government led by President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed seems to want to govern in other than theocratic fashion and for purposes other than war.
In Pakistan, also fighting, the Taliban have become the trigger that brought down the roof by will of the state's army and put one million people out of their homes. Spin it every which way, the Islamists succeeded in doing what no army of conquest in the world ever has--i.e., evicting the indigenous residents of Swat Valley and surrounds from their homes.
Even in Syria, it seems possible that doves want to fly:
A statement from Hamas said that Lavrov told the group that Russia was still trying to convene a Middle East peace conference and that Moscow hoped the Palestinians, split between Hamas and the Fatah faction of President Mahmoud Abbas, would be represented by one delegation.
Moscow had hoped to convene the meeting last year. Both Israel and Hamas were cool to the idea, in Hamas's case partly because the Palestinians would have been represented by Abbas. [2]
Well, it all may be a lull, a small break from fiery rhetoric and sword waving and plans for the annihilation of Israel, but it sure reads like reality.
For comfort, I think cultural affiliation greater than religious binders and piety; I think religions greater in their comparative visions than the people who comprise them. Few Christians, Jews, and Muslims--none--live according to their foundation texts as laid out in their time: consciousness and the passage of time forbid it; goodness forbids it too, or we should never reach for a modern appliance or medicine or . . . political accommodation.
Reference
1. Trofimov, Yaroslav. "Muslim Brotherhood Falters as Egypt Outflanks Islamists." The Wall Street Journal, May 15, 2009: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124225195098016929.html
2. World News. "Muslim nations link better ties with Israel to peace." May 25, 2009: http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre54o2zi-us-muslims-israel/
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