Re Tracy W 27 Dec 06

Submitted by mike jacobs (United States), Dec 30, 2006 at 02:10

Appreciate your sensitivity to and comments on the "cognitive dissonance" evident in many leadership and opinion making circles concerning the nature of both violent and lawful Islamism. You ended with the following: "I have read many good ideas, such as Mr Pipes', on how to confront and defeat the threat of Islam, but I'm still waiting for a diagnosis of this sickness that is like the proverbial wrench thrown into the gears. It's hard to accomplish anything as long as we have not diagnosed it and fixed it."

Something that has helped me to form at least a hypothesis, if not a proven diagnosis, is Thomas PM Barnett's concept of the enemy as a society's degree or level of "disconnectedness". His strategy for taking the wrench out of the gears is "shrinking the gap" between the matrix of connected societies and states and the chaos of the disconnected. You might find a visit to his website helpful in your search for useful analytical tools, or check him at YouTube.

Regards.

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