this just in

[Michael Eisenstadt]

It is pleasant to hear that American special forces
and their airplanes have established bases in 
southern Afghanistan and have already hunted down
and killed quite a number of non-Afghan mujahedeen. 

I am keeping my fingers crossed that Bush and
company dont now go after Iraq. On the other hand
if it could be done with the finesse of the
Afghanistan intervention...

As to the future and the role that Islam will
play in the world, for starters hunt down a copy 
of Samuel Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations 
and the Remaking of World Order. This was 
published in 1996 and is the most up-to-date
overview of the subject. Best insight so far
(I'm about 1/3 through): non Western civilizations
can and do modernize without abandoning their
religion. The religious revival of the last 
30 years ALL OVER THE WORLD is apparently the 
joker in the pack.