Former British PM Tony Blair says Islamism incompatible with modern economies - Well, D'OH!

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said in an essay on his website that Islamism is incompatible with modern economies.

Former British PM Tony Blair says Islamism incompatible with modern economies - Well, D'OH! Blair2-300x298

Former British PM Tony Blair says Islamism incompatible with modern economies - Well, D'OH! Blair2-300x298

In a long essay debating Isis before the start of UN General Assembly discussions in New York, Mr Blair said Western leaders must not be naïve.

“You cannot uproot this extremism unless you go to where it originates and fight it,” Mr Blair wrote on his website.

“The spectrum is a different matter.

“Here the most important thing is to expose it, to speak out against it, to make sure that at each point along the spectrum the proponents of this ideology are taken on and countered; but also be prepared to engage in dialogue and to acknowledge, as has been the case in Tunisia, that some of those on this spectrum may be willing to leave it.

“So there should be openness in our attitude, but the total absence of naivety. To engage successfully, we have to be willing to confront.

“We are not doing this as of yet.

“The truth is that Islamism, unless fundamentally reformed, is incompatible with modern economies and open-minded, religiously pluralistic societies. This truth has to be recognised,” he wrote.

Mr Blair warned the West must now be prepared to deploy ground troops to combat Isis.

The former prime minister, who is now Middle East peace envoy, wrote on his website: “Air power is a major component of this, to be sure, especially with the new weapons available to us.

“But – and this is the hard truth – air power alone will not suffice. They can be hemmed in, harried and to a degree contained by air power. But they can’t be defeated by it.”

In his article, Mr Blair warned Western governments are in danger of making a “fateful error” in assuming that they should challenge only Islamist extremists who advocate violence.

Mr Blair wants action against extremists.

He wrote: “This Islamism – a politicisation of religion to an intense and all-encompassing degree – is not confined to a fringe.

“It is an ideology (and a theology derived from Salafist thinking) taught and preached every day to millions, actually to tens of millions, in some mosques, certain madrassas, and in formal and informal education systems the world over.”

“It is the spectrum that helps create the fringe.

“A large part of western policy – and something I remember so well fighting in government – is based on the belief that we can compromise with the spectrum in the hope of marginalising the fringe.

“This is a fateful error. All we do is to legitimise the spectrum, which then gives ideological oxygen to the fringe,” he wrote.

http://australianmuslimtimes.com/2014/09/22/former-british-pm-tony-blair-says-islamism-incompatible-modern-economies-2829.html

Former British PM Tony Blair says Islamism incompatible with modern economies - Well, D'OH!

Former British PM Tony Blair says Islamism incompatible with modern economies - Well, D'OH!

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