Quote Originally Posted by SteveMetz View Post
Just as communism faltered once it could no longer expand, Islamic extremism will, I believe, collapse if its ability to scapegoat is removed.
I believe the socialistic system rather collapsed once it had accumulated enough problems over time. The primary problem being that they competed on even level in the arms race with much less economic power from the beginning. The Soviet Union spent about a quarter of its GDP on military, while the western nations spent never more than one tenth. Imagine the west playing total war for fourty years and you'll see why the Warsaw Pact had to collapse.
It's indeed a huge accomplishement that the held out for so long, the planning economy and one-party dictatorship must have been a huge success (in the wrong direction), very different from our usual perceptions.


I don't believe that the Islamists need the scapegoat function - it's likely necessary to direct energies against the west, but not for keeping islamism prospering. After all, gaining power in a nation has primarily to do with domestic problems. The Persian Shah was not removed from power for his relationship with the USA - he was removed for domestic reasons.
The strongest alternative to Islamism in the Arab world is afaik nationalism - not much better if viewed from our perspective.