A view from Australia about militant Islam

There has been a lot of thought, fact and opinion offerred about the role of Islam in the perceived problems the West faces at the moment.

The following link is to a paper from the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia, entitled Joining the Caravan? The Middle East, Islamism and Indonesia.

This paper examines many of the issues frequently discussed at length on these pages. The authors are Greg Fealy , an academic at the Australian National University, specialising in Indonesia and Islam; and Anthony Bubalo, formerly a diplomat with experience in Israel and the Palestinan Territories and an analyst at Australia's peak intelligence organisation, the Office of National Assessments.

The link is here:

http://www.lowyinstitute.org/Publication.asp?pid=229

Declaration of Interest: I am currently attached to the Institute that published the paper at the link. This is not the reason why I am posting this link - I just happen to think that this is one of the more 'sober' analyses of the issue that I have come across in other three years researching COIN. I believe that the Council Members may be stimulated by it as well.

Over to you,

Regards

Mark