Despite considering Iran a grave threat to the Middle East and the rest of the world, the U.S. establishment opposes canceling the nuclear deal, and instead apparently prefers to provide the Islamic Republic's theocratic regime with the logistical means to continue developing its nuclear weapons program.
U.S. National Security Adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster, for example, by rejecting the term "radical Islamic terrorism," appears to be ignoring the ideological, cultural, religious, political and economic factors behind global jihad. It is as if McMaster believes that the terrorists' war against the West emerged out of nowhere -- unconnected to a multi-pronged logistical foundation and network.
The same can be said of the American media, the Justice and State Departments and the intelligence services -- and not only in relation to terrorism.
 U.S. National Security Adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster, by rejecting the term "radical Islamic terrorism," appears to be ignoring the ideological, cultural, religious, political and economic factors behind global jihad. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) |
The American establishment also seems to be suffering from a similar form of tunnel-vision in relation to the Palestinians' quest for a state, by ignoring the fundamental logistics behind it. Under the best circumstances, any state created would not be like Denmark. The reality is that such a state would adopt the political and institutional nature of the totalitarian regimes of the Gulf countries, just as Hamas did in the Gaza Strip after Israel's withdrawal in 2005.
A Palestinian state would survive through funding from regimes such as Iran, Qatar and Turkey, and continue to serve as their proxy in the region. Similarly, it would quickly become a theocracy -- an ISIS clone, denying its citizens exposure to Judeo-Christian culture, as Islamists are currently trying to do in Europe, Australia and Canada. Witness the attacks in Europe on Paris's sports stadium and the Bataclan theater in November 2015, or on young girls listening to music in Manchester on May 22, 2017. Or the attempted Christmas bombing in Australia and attempts further to silence free speech in Canada.
The time for the United States and the rest of the West to tackle global jihad and the extremism that leads to it is long overdue.
Maria Polizoidou, a reporter, broadcast journalist, and consultant on international and foreign affairs, is based in Greece. She has a post-graduate degree in "Geopolitics and Security Issues in the Islamic complex of Turkey and Middle East" from the University of Athens.
