David Blue and I have disagreed frequently and strongly on this site over whether is issue is Islam or Islamists; I flatly believe that the issue is not Islam - although we do have issues with Islam, just as we do with other cultures that were formerly 'Third World' because they are beginning to compete with the West for political and ideological dominance. But that competition is vastly different than the murderous acts of a small minority who want to remake Islam, and we do have immediate, serious and lethal issues with those Islamists.

The problem, as I see it (and as Dave Kopel over at Volokh saw it) is summed up by my comment:

1) Swiss Gov't comes to accommodations with various Islamist groups for internal security reasons - do what you want here, but no attacks;

2) Islamist groups use Swiss facilities with increasing visibility;

3) Non-Islamist Muslim population grows;

4) Non-Muslim Swiss population (who are, like the French, stunningly racist by nature) is PO'ed at the government actions and at the increasing visibility of both the Islamist and benign Muslim populations and performs a gratuitous act of foot-stomping. Or, as Otter put it, "a really futile and stupid gesture..."

I've predicted in the past that Europe wasn't at risk of becoming Islamic, but instead that there would be a right-wing xenophobic reaction that risked Europe going to something that looks a lot like fascism (violent, racist nationalism). I'm standing by that prediction, and I'll suggest that's as bad an outcome as any Eurabia.
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