Ramadan know how to play the Western end of the debate:
‘According to Ramadan, writes Ahmari, “the American government and ‘powerful American corporations’ nurtured the young activists who triggered the Arab Spring as a way of ‘opening up Arab markets and integrating the region into the global economy.’”
and Totten finishes with:
‘There are plenty of liberal and moderate intellectuals in the Arab world. Real ones. Smart one. Brilliant ones. I’ve interviewed lots of them. Some of them are my friends. Many of them have been bullied and menaced and even murdered by the enthusiastic followers of Tariq Ramadan’s grandfather.
I don’t know if Ramadan’s newest book and his job as an Iranian government tool will finally define him as a committed non-liberal in the eyes of the Western world’s liberals, but it’s bound to happen eventually.’
This is coming at a time when the current American administration has committed itself to about the farthest Left foreign policy platform in living memory (maybe beyond Brzezinski’s Carter admin).
Many Americans want this to be our approach as well, as it’s “working” in Europe. Here’s Ramadan debating Hitchens:
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Via Reuters, Turkey is stepping up military action in Syria, partly to tamp down the Kurds and keep its own population in control, partly to protect itself from the chaos and perhaps gain advantage.