The (islamic) divide

It’s been almost two weeks since the tragedy unfolded in Paris. Europe is now on high alert chasing the perpetrators as well as planning what to do next. ISIS is hell bent on waging war against all non-believers and make sure they are on everyone’s agenda.

Europe however is currently weakened by the after match of the havoc ISIS has caused in Syria/Iraq. Immigration has further divided the member states who haven’t recovered from licking their wounds over Greece and the financial crisis. Borders are reinstated and free movement may be forever changed for europeans, there is clearly an us and a them. While understandable due to recent events, they have only served to accelerate the process. The mass killings were by no means the catalyst.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel has been one of the few true believers of a united Europe, and should be commended for her efforts. The idea seems more and more distant for each passing day but perhaps now is the time to once again unite in face of this vicious external threat. While one could have hoped that financial solidarity and exchange of culture and commerce would have been the common denominator, it is not without merit to overlook joint security and intelligence for european member states. One should take heed of the overzelous organizations known as the CIA and NSA or what they became after 9/11, but that does not diminish the value of central intelligence agency.

Immigration is also a problem that has to be solved. This can not be re-iterated enough, there is no amount of wishful thinking that will make it will go away. Again, this has to be solved by EU, jointly, 1 million refugees is not the end of western culture for a continent of 500 million.

It is however the end of cooperation if some states have to take on a unreasonable burden while other states ignore the problem. After the Paris attacks, all europeans should have a very clear understanding of the violence and insecurity these people are fleeing.

War is on the horizion. Efforts in Syria and Iraq will no doubt be intensified and sooner or later troops will have to set foot on foreign soil, whether it be Russian, American or French boots. On this issue, Russia and the Western world should be able to see eye to eye and UN resolutions have already indicated this to be the case. But we all know what happened to Afghanistan and Iraq after the war. The expression “history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes” still holds true.

In order to work toward stabilization in the Middle East, which should be in everyone’s interest, foreign interests can’t just stop at shooting all the “bad guys”. Leaving behind a war-torn and poor country would only serve to create another al-Queda, ISIS or worse. The sad truth is likely that now matter how much the international community would have liked to ease tensions in i this region, it can only be solved by muslims themselves mitigating the great divide among the islamic world. Two factions of a shared religion cannot continue to hate each other. The Western world, with deep ties in Christianity, should be deeply empethatic to this problem as we need not look far into our own history to find similar conflicts.

There has to be truly meaningful efforts between the Sunni and Shia community for tolerance and coexistence.

For countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia to not be each others mortal enemies but have a forum to work for peace and cooperation. In these efforts the world’s superpowers can do very little other then to emphasize the need for dialog. The terror we are currently witnessing is the result of the very volatile situation between these beliefs and what happens when warmongers exploit the situation for their own agendas. It cannot be allowed to continue but it will take generations to overcome.

Until then, it should be made clear that humanity does not tolerate fascist regimes whether they target their own people, jews or anyone else.