Happy Christmas to our numerous readers. Here is something to humbly ponder upon over the holiday:

A new book by Michael Ryan, “Decoding Al Qaida’s Strategy: the Deep Battle against America”, among other things, discusses what it is that Al Qaida and its loose affiliates (and by extension much of the Islamic world) so heartily detests about the West:

– the creation and subsequent abandonment of the mujaheddin fighters against the USSR
– the abandonment of habeas corpus implicit in extraordinary rendition
– detention without trial in Guantanimo
– the humiliation and torture of prisoners in Iraq
– the crude use of drones in Pakistan,Somalia and Yemen
– the NSA’s disregard for personal privacy
– the sense of humiliation meted out by colonial European powers, and the thirst on behalf of so many Moslems for dignity and respect
– the bullying of Moslem countries (Iran is an example) for commercial objectives over many years, and support for reactionary regimes (e.g Saudi, Egypt under Mubarak)
– the feeling that the United Nations, the multi-nationals, internet providers, global news media and even the aid agencies use puppet regimes in the Middle East to continue the colonial project by other means (at least, this is how they seem to see it).

And this does not even address the activities of Israel, which continues its self-defeating policies and land theft, protected by the US. Nor does it cover the distaste of many Moslems for the coarse Western culture that promotes violence, pornography and tasteless vulgarity around the world.

Epicurus would have no time for caliphates, cutting off people’s hands or murdering people in the name of religion. But he might see the point that we seem unable to understand the other side’s point of view or to see the motes in our own eyes. You have to be obtuse not to see that, collectively, we need a wake-up call. In 2014 I hope we can drop the arrogance.