Academic

AUSTIN BAY: Islamist Mensheviks Versus Islamist Bolsheviks ? Egypt?s Next Crisis? Key: ?The 1979?

By Glenn Reynolds

AUSTIN BAY: Islamist Mensheviks Versus Islamist Bolsheviks — Egypt’s Next Crisis? Key: “The 1979 Iranian Revolution began as a popular rebellion against the authoritarian Shah. Opposition to the Shah united liberal modernizers, workers, nationalists and Muslim militants led by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The Khomeinists eventually imposed their own dictatorship because they were willing to kill other Iranians. One dictatorial clique replaced another. . . . At some point, the Militant Islamists will resort to terror and assassination in their bid to secure unrivaled power. It will take a resilient alliance of Egyptian secularists, moderate Islamists and the military to defeat them. Encouraging this alliance should be America’s foremost diplomatic goal.” So can secular moderation survive if its opponents are willing to kill, but its supporters are not?

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on February 02, 2011 (boomark / email).