Ralph Peters Takes On The Cradle Of Hate

"...As "refugee religions," Christianity and Judaism had to struggle to survive - the latter still struggles today. For all of the pop theories blaming the Rise of the West on germs, dumb luck or sheer nastiness, the truth is that Judeo-Christian civilization was hardened by mortal threats - including horrendous internal conflicts.

We got tough. And the tough got going.

It isn't an accident that the industrial revolution took off in resource-poor Britain, or that the poverty-ridden contin- ent of Europe invented new means of exerting power.

In exile, the Judeo-Christian civilization grew up on the global mean streets. MiddleEastern Islam suffered from easy wealth, luxury and a narcotic regional heritage.

We changed, they froze. An Assyrian tyrant, such as the murderous Ashurbanipal - who reigned over 1,200 years before Mohammed's birth -would understand the governments, societies and disciplinarian religion of today's Middle East. The West would baffle him.

Since the Renaissance, the West fixed its gaze on the future. Islamic civilization sought to freeze time, to cling to a dream of a lost paradise, part Islamic Baghdad, part Babylon.

Shocked awake over the past few centuries, some Middle Easterners realized they had to change. But they didn't know how. Modernization sputtered out. Pan-Arabism foundered on greed and corruption.

The shah tried to buy the "good parts" of Western civilization, but the pieces didn't work on their own. Next, Iran tried theocracy - government by bigots. Didn't work either.

"Oil-rich" Saudi Arabia has a per capita GDP half that of Israel's (whose sole resource is people). Dubai has shopping malls - selling designer goods with Western labels.

Today's fanatics can hurt us, but can't destroy us. Their fatal ability is to drag their civilization down to an even lower level.

The problem is that the Middle East hasn't been able to escape the Middle East."

Actually, the barbaric society's of islam aren't the exception but the norm. Take a look at China, all of Asia, for that matter, and what you'll find are cultures rooted in the past, cultures that have not added one rung to the ladder of modern civilization. Medicine and technology come from the west. From what Rome wrought. Europe had it's own struggle with gods in the mountaintops, but nevertheless extricated itself from the greedy shamen to create the foundation for all that is good with today's world. Religion took a backseat as it became more and more a matter of private communication with a deity or deities, and not the all-consuming primer on how to greet each and every day of one's existence. The human animal is wired to believe in what cannot be seen, to know that tomorrow will come. It is from this difference mankind moved from the treetops to the savannahs to the moon and beyond. Nothing is perfect, least of all nature that revels in imperfection. Cancers are a living thing, too. And so are some religions.