Originally Posted by GlobalNav
What could a western country do to effectively "combat the Wahabist ideology" of Saudi Arabia? Is it possible to win the hearts and minds of the Saudi's?
I think you misunderstand the problem. We can start by banning Islamist organisations such as the Muslim Brotherhood and clamping down severely on radical preachers, just as the majority of Muslim countries themselves do. We can follow up by blocking the funding which flows principally from Saudi Arabia and Qatar to promote Wahhabism, and expunge Wahhabist texts from British schools and mosques. In its distinct way, this ideology is as divisive and intolerant as Nazism, which we rightly abhor and legislate against. (By the way, all of this is in addition to military action against ISIL, not instead of it).
Originally Posted by Chris Scott
Are we more likely to win the hearts and minds of practising or secular Muslims in this country by constantly linking the name of their ancient religion and culture with a barbarian death-cult
Firstly, winning the hearts and minds of British Muslims is not the first step on the road to solving this problem. Getting the wider public to understand the source of the ideological problem is. That is the necessary prerequisite to some of the difficult diplomacy and domestic politics that would follow in the wake of the steps outlined above, due to the possible negative impact on gas and oil prices, expat jobs, arms contracts and employment in our defence industry, among other things. When all that is done, then it will be time to patch up British society, and hopefully facilitate the resurgence of the varied and colourful Islam that early generations of post-war immigrants practised before the faith's hijacking by the dark, austere, intolerant, divisive but heavily-promoted Arabian version.
Secondly, as I keep saying, saying "Da'esh" does NOT remove any references to Islam or statehood. It just obscures them in a foreign-language abbreviation, reducing the explanatory power needed for the purpose outlined above yet without losing any of their actual meaning. It treats us like fools who snigger at the thought of rude-sounding foreign words whilst paying no heed to their true meaning. As such it is the politics of the student union, or perhaps even the playground, when what is needed is bold and visionary leadership through a battle of ideas.