Inherent Contradictions

"Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence," [Pakistani] Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said.

And what exactly did the man say?

The Pope began this speech at Regensburg University with what he conceded were "brusque"” words about Islam: He quoted a 14th Century Byzantine emperor as saying,

“Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

The self-evident contradiction between the condemnation of the use of violence as a "tool" in the sphere of religion, and the threat of violence if a full apology is not forth coming is too obvious to be ignored.

The world is in the throes of a conflict, if not of cultures, then ideologies, no less portentous than the conflict between the free world and Nazism or the free world and Communism. The question is how long will it take the Western democracries to wake up and appreciate the conflict for what it is ... an all-out winner-takes-all struggle.