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Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781556052682 |
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Publisher: | Wyndham Hall Press |
Publication date: | 04/28/1996 |
Pages: | 180 |
Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d) |
Read an Excerpt
This book by author, lawyer, Middle East historian and human rights activist Anthony J.Dennis brilliantly conveys to the reader the agenda and political objectives of Muslim fundamentalist movements throughout North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. After closely and carefully defining the commonly used term "fundamentalist," Dennis examines fundamentalist Islam as an increasingly popular revolutionary ideology. He analyzes the fundamentalists' impressive recent electoral gains and exposes fundamentalist Islam as more than a domestic political phenomenon. It is, in fact, an aggressive ideology characterized by 1) a high degree of self-consciousness, coordination and planning among participants from many different nations (Dennis thoroughly documents and describes several conferences and transnational activities), 2) a specialized revolutionary vocabulary (e.g. "the Great Satan", "global arrogance"), and iii) a "game plan" for regional conquest (again, Dennis provides exhaustive details and supporting footnotes in support of this conclusion).
This book is a thoughtful and unique meditation on the potential for radical Islam to provide the essential "glue" that may lead to the creation of an Islamic confederation which would be profoundly hostile (according to their own words and deeds) to Western society and interests. As such, it is the only book in existence to date which gives serious and explicit attention to the intriguing question of whether the Soviet Union's death (which created both a power and an
ideological vaccuum, according to Dennis) and the end of the Cold War will lead to the "birth" of new nations or empires as yet unknown.
This book has received a tremendous level of interest from the public, generated largely by the author's appearances on a number of syndicated television and talk radio shows and by the early, favorable notice the book received in the prestigious weekly news magazine National Journal.
The public endorsements the book received from various former senior government officials, senior U.S. diplomats and foreign policy specialists, which are displayed on the inside front cover and back cover of the book, also underscore the significance and seriousness of this title.
Table of Contents
Foreword | i | |
Acknowledgments | v | |
Chapter 1 | Defining the Threat | 1 |
I. | Prologue: The Cold War Legacy | 1 |
II. | 1980: The Death of One Empire and the Birth of Another | 3 |
III. | Nukes on the Loose and Other Dangers | 6 |
Chapter 2 | The Threat from Abroad | 19 |
I. | History and Origins of Islam | 20 |
II. | Islam's "Golden Age" | 21 |
III. | Divisions of Islam, Aspects of the Religion | 23 |
IV. | Hostility Toward the West | 25 |
V. | Strange Bedfellows: Fundamentalist Islam and Democracy | 31 |
VI. | Fundamentalist Islam and Capitalism | 33 |
VII. | Fundamentalist Islam and Human Rights | 36 |
A. | In General | 36 |
B. | The Attack on Women's Rights | 40 |
C. | The Attack on Other Religions | 44 |
D. | The Attack on Freedom of Expression | 47 |
Chapter 3 | Birth of an Empire | 57 |
I. | Stirrings of Muslim Consciousness | 57 |
II. | The Islamintern | 60 |
A. | Qods Force | 60 |
B. | The Islamic Arab Popular Conference | 62 |
C. | The Islamic World Order: A Hint of Things to Come | 63 |
III. | Islam: The Tie That Binds | 64 |
A. | Unification Failures | 64 |
B. | Unification Success | 65 |
IV. | The Rising Tide: A Survey of Militant Islamic Movements in Several Key Nations | 67 |
V. | Building Blocks and Stepping Stones | 75 |
Chapter 4 | Resources of the Islamic Empire and the Possibility of Nuclear Jihad | 84 |
Chapter 5 | The Threat at Home | 92 |
I. | Terrorism Arrives in the U.S. | 92 |
II. | America's Vulnerability | 96 |
A. | Public Parking for Terrorists | 97 |
B. | Easy Access to Nuclear Power Plants | 97 |
C. | Don't Drink the Water | 98 |
D. | Shopping for Explosives | 98 |
E. | Terrorists in Our Midst | 99 |
Chapter 6 | Domestic Terrorism: A Plan of Action | 106 |
I. | America's Wake-Up Call | 106 |
II. | Enhanced Security/Greater Public Education | 107 |
III. | Immigration Reform | 108 |
IV. | Monitoring the Purchase of High Explosives | 110 |
V. | Restore the Office of Counterterrorism | 111 |
Chapter 7 | Dealing with the Threat from Abroad | 113 |
I. | Cold War Defense Theory | 114 |
II. | The Limits of Deterrence | 115 |
III. | The Need to Develop an Effective Ballistic Missile Defense | 117 |
IV. | Ballistic Missile Defense: The Manhattan Project of Our Time | 122 |
A. | The Manhattan Project Analogy | 122 |
B. | Can Ballistic Missile Defenses Work? | 124 |
1. | Combining Existing Technology in New Ways | 124 |
2. | SDI and Its Successors | 125 |
3. | Tested in Battle | 126 |
4. | Ballistic Missile Defense Tests: A Success or Failure? | 127 |
5. | Leaving the U.S. in the Dust | 127 |
V. | The Russians Extend Their Hand | 128 |
A. | Spreading the Cost | 129 |
B. | The ABM Treaty | 131 |
C. | Capturing the Moral High Ground | 133 |
VI. | The Collapse of American Security? | 134 |
A. | A Critique | 135 |
B. | America the Vulnerable | 136 |
VII. | Diplomatic Measures | 137 |
VIII. | Postscript | 140 |
Bibliography | 148 | |
About the Author | 157 |