Threats without borders

Claude Salhani:

Addressing a gathering of some 200 French ambassadors gathered at the Elysee Palace last Monday, President Nicolas Sarkozy stressed the urgency of what he called "The first challenge" facing the West: How to prevent a confrontation with Islam.

"The threats we face today — terrorism, proliferation, crime — know no borders, warned the French president.

"There's no point in waffling: this confrontation is being called for by extremist groups such as al Qaeda that dream of establishing a caliphate from Indonesia to Nigeria, rejecting all openness, all modernity, every hint of diversity," said Mr. Sarkozy. "If these forces were to achieve their sinister objective, it is certain that the 21st century would be even worse than the last one, itself marked by merciless confrontation between ideologies."

It would be wrong, said Mr. Sarkozy to underestimate the threat of a confrontation between Islam and the West. Citing the affair of the Danish newspaper cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad that stirred violent protests from London to Jakarta, the French president said it should be seen as "a forewarning." All countries, he said, including those of the Muslim world, are now under threat of criminal attack similar to the attacks on New York, Bali, Madrid, Bombay, Istanbul, London and Casablanca. "Think of what would happen tomorrow if terrorists were to use nuclear, biological or chemical materials."

...

Echoing the voices of numerous Middle East observers, Mr. Sarkozy reiterated that preventing an Islam vs. Western confrontation entails dealing with the crises in the Middle East. "Just five years ago, there was only one crisis in the region. Within five years, that number has grown to four."

...

He was making so much sense it was hard to believe he was a French politician, but he is still buying into code for forcing a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Fortunately our hopes don't really depend on such an agreement, because the possibility of a lasting one are remote. The Palestinians still have nothing of value to offer Israel and they demand much. That is not a recipe for an agreement.