Chimbu,
Incredibly pleased you started this thread and utterly delighted at the quality of the debate from all sides.
I was wondering if any of you might care to comment on the thought that the internal pressures and woes of Islam itself are the real and deep rooted cause of what we see today.
The history of Islam is genuinely riveting reading in every possible sphere but around a 150 years or so ago its work in science, medicine and just plain questioning/reforming itself seems to stop. Within a generation or two the Western colonial/industrialised nations have carved up the maps into their vision of the world and the pot has seemed to simmer since then.
This thread has so far illuminated many of the attitudes and policies outside of Islam as being of huge influence. I'd like to suggest that if all were removed from the equation and expunged from history we would see very similar boiling stresses within the Islamic world.
It's always very easy to ignore real problems within a culture by attacking external ones. Something we're all prone to do.