Ideological Landmines

Fareed Zakaria says we need to learn to live with radical Islam. His kicker:

The veil is not the same as the suicide belt. We can better pursue our values if we recognize the local and cultural context, and appreciate that people want to find their own balance between freedom and order, liberty and license. In the end, time is on our side. Bin Ladenism has already lost ground in almost every Muslim country. Radical Islam will follow the same path. Wherever it is triedin Afghanistan, in Iraq, in parts of Nigeria and Pakistanpeople weary of its charms very quickly. The truth is that all Islamists, violent or not, lack answers to the problems of the modern world. They do not have a world view that can satisfy the aspirations of modern men and women. We do. That's the most powerful weapon of all.

Initiating an apocalyptic war, as Israel intends, against a failing state like Iran would be catastrophically counter-productive. Isolating the regime, while reaching out to the vast majority of Persians who loathe it, is a much more productive strategy.