(1) France’s Great Debate Over the Sources and Meaning of Muslim Terror (Tablet)

“During the electoral campaign of 2011, the Muslims of France, appalled by the populist-nationalist campaign of President Sarkozy—for whom they had voted in large numbers in 2007—had massively rallied behind Sarkozy’s opponent, the socialist candidate Hollande, who based his own campaign on analysis provided by the main left-wing think tank of the era, Terra Nova. According to that analysis, the “traditional” left-wing electorate of the prosperity decades—a mix of the white working class and civil servants—was now leaving the stage, to be replaced by a melting pot of young, well-off urban gays and lesbians, and the young Muslim offspring of migrant families. Hollande mistook the rallying of anti-Sarkozy Muslims to his campaign as a confirmation of that view.”

The risk of think tanks sounds very, very familiar. Our elites / betters are the ones with real privilege and use their wealth and network to experiment with culture in a very dangerous way. You could replace Olivier Roy with John Kerry or John Brennan (or any of the other Yale/Harvard graduates like Eric Ciaramella cycling in and out of government agencies). These are the modern day Chamberlains without an ounce of common sense whose hubris cost blood and treasure.

Some other thoughts…

If you are going to decolonize you better have a plan to protect your borders.
Nuance is a code word used by the left to explain away common sense.
The alliance between the left and radicals like the squad (wink wink) isn’t going to last. It’s a marriage of convenience built on extreme naïveté.