Islamists

What it is the West doesn't seem able to understand at a level deep enough to muster any serious - which must equate to collective - response is the fact the Islamists are principally involved in a struggle for the (muslim) Umma. Terrorism is a temporary tool, it certainly got them the media attention they so needed to resurrect their cause. Let's not forget al-Quaeda have their own media arm, al-Sahib, which if nothing else tells us they have something we haven't! And, their operational leaders, the likes of Ayman al-Zawahri, talk of this war as a struggle for the Muslim mind. They do not talk of this struggle as being achieved next year or come the next election, nor the next decade, they talk of 50 and 100 years. They see this as a historical struggle, of which they play only a small part in the present revival. It is undoubtedly very difficult to see how all this will pan out through the fullness of time. There is nothing occurring today that offers much to meliorate our confidence - there's no point denying what is obvious, even if there is much we don't see - the West looks weak and vulnerable. And the fact there are people walking our streets who believe the whole thing is the invention of the intelligence services doesn't help much. This all seems utterly Biblical.