Islamic terrorists have converted into Bolsheviks

It is an open secret that it is a real problem for several politicians in the East or West to get rid of the cliches of the Cold War epoch. Attempts to apply the stereotypes practiced 20-30 years ago to today’s life becomes more regular. British Ex-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher does not remain aloof from the situation. A large article by Margaret Thatcher has been published in today’s issue of The Guardian newspaper. The article is titled “Islamism Is the New Bolshevism”. In the author’s words, the Islamic movement today is similar to communism at its very dawn. Moreover, Islamic extremism, like bolshevism, is a military doctrine. It is an aggressive ideology supported by well-armed fanatics. A universal long-term strategy is necessary for the suppression of the ideology. Margaret Thatcher offers such a strategy.

The US’s war on terrorism in Afghanistan became the first stage of the strategy. The military operation has almost reached its end, and the main attention is to be directed to the terrorist bases in the Asiatic and African countries. This is to be the second stage of the strategy. Work with outlaw states is to be the third stage of the strategy. The list of such countries looks traditional: Iran, Iraq ( which Margaret Thatcher considers it to be an absolute center of the evil), and North Korea. The ex-prime minister would also add Libya and Sudan to the list.

Once again, Iraq has turned out to be the main target of the anti-terrorist attacks. Margaret Thatcher thinks that, for the resolution of the “Saddam problem,” good intelligence training and mobilization of the opposition in the country are required. After that, an active campaign can be started.

The way the leading politicians from the West divide the world into “the good” and “the bad” is astonishing. It looks as though the West wants to find an enemy at any cost. It would be better if the enemy could be powerful and treacherous to deal a destructive blow. For this purpose, rather far-fetched theories are being created now. It is perfectly clear that Islam and communism have been developing under different historic conditions. The popularity of different radical doctrines is caused by the political, economic, and social disparity. After all, communism was a creation of western civilization, and it has as little in common with Islam, as with liberalism or fascism.

The very notion of outlaw countries, despite its popularity, is insulting. Instead of carrying out negotiations, sometimes long and unsuccessful, the USA together with its allies (Great Britain first of all) try to settle the problem at once. Indeed, the military operation in Afghanistan has demonstrated the might of the USA, but it is a deadlock. It is not the way to settle the problem of Islamic terrorism. As long as the population of the countries accused of assisting the terrorists is poor, the radicals of any kind will be easy to find more new adherents.

It means that Western politicians should better work on the problem of effective settlement of economic development problems in the so-called “outlaw countries," not invent far-fetched theories.

Oleg Artyukov PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/02/13/36989.html