Tony Blair, the Former British Prime Minister, delivered a keynote speech at Bloomberg HQ in London entitled 'Why the Middle East Still Matters.' In it he described radical Islam as the greatest threat facing the world today.
The Full Text of Tony Blair's speech
Blair said “However the Middle East matters. What is presently happening there, still represents the biggest threat to global security of the early 21st C. The region, including the wider area outside its conventional boundary – Pakistan, Afghanistan to the east and North Africa to the west – is in turmoil with no end in sight to the upheaval and any number of potential outcomes from the mildly optimistic to catastrophe.
At the root of the crisis lies a radicalised and politicised view of Islam, an ideology that distorts and warps Islam’s true message. The threat of this radical Islam is not abating. It is growing. It is spreading across the world. It is de-stabilising communities and even nations. It is undermining the possibility of peaceful co-existence in an era of globalisation. And in the face of this threat we seem curiously reluctant to acknowledge it and powerless to counter it effectively.
But I assert it nonetheless. I do so because underneath the turmoil and revolution of the past years is one very clear and unambiguous struggle: between those with a modern view of the Middle East, one of pluralistic societies and open economies, where the attitudes and patterns of globalisation are embraced; and, on the other side, those who want to impose an ideology born out of a belief that there is one proper religion and one proper view of it, and that this view should, exclusively, determine the nature of society and the political economy. We might call this latter perspective an ‘Islamist’ view, though one of the frustrating things about this debate is the inadequacy of the terminology and the tendency for any short hand to be capable of misinterpretation, so that you can appear to elide those who support the Islamist ideology with all Muslims.”
He urged the West and indeed the entire world, to unite against the ideology Islamic extremism. Blair outlined potential foreign policy options for the West vis-a-vis various Middle Eastern countries in order to combat Islamists and to support religiously open and tolerant elements.
Perhaps this statement by Blair sums up the message of his keynote speech best: "When we consider the defining challenges of our time, surely this one should be up there along with the challenge of the environment or economic instability."
Former Foreign Office Minister Denis MacShane compared the speech to Churchill's 1946 Iron Curtain address.
Addendum
After I posted Mr. Blair’s speech I began to wonder if he
was proposing dictators like President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and
Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt are leaders the west should support. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is a dictator where
personal freedom is not valued highly particularly for women. Most leaders of
Muslim countries, even though not considered to be Islamist states, are not
models that western Christian countries want to emulate. Pakistan is
particularly anti “the west” is practice although pretending to be an ally of
the United States.
There is little doubt that Islamists wish to replace western
democracy with a Caliphate based on sharia law and Muslim fundamentalism. If
Mr. Blaire is warning us of the impending danger then I support him.
Hi John; Once again, your Blog appeared during an unrelated search. Of course, Mr. Blair is absolutely correct in his view of Islam, so much so that it all goes without saying. I would have wished that he (and others) address the problem head on and suggest some answers ... for example, crucially including his Israeli friends.
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