Where the conflict rests.

Maybe I should watch more Glen Beck. I don't get to listen to talk radio at all, and my exposure to Fox News on TV is very limited with the children's demands on all electronic forms of media within my small apartment. So when people tell me it's Glen Beck saying the upcoming war is going to be us against the Muslims, I have to take their word for it because I don't get to do the Glen Beck thing.

My personal opinion is that he's wrong. Our upcoming West vs Islam conflict is not going to materialize.

Titus mentioned Israel and the Palestinians, and that led to a phone conversation concerning the nature of Islam and potential threats against the West. Islam in and of itself, within the framework of a western democracy, is no more malignant than fundamental Christianity or rabid atheism. (Seriously, our domestic terrorists, Muslim? Hell no. They are Christians, bastard Christians bombing abortion clinics or crazy racists wrapping themselves in a swastika and proclaiming God's will in White Supremacy.) But Islam as a fundamental model of government IS a direct threat to everyone around it.

Titus mentioned Iran. I suggested Taliban Afghanistan. I paused when thinking of Syria and Saddam's Iraq, but fascism requires 1) loyalty to the party and 2) loyalty to the State, which knocks Islam to number 3, an unacceptable reality for Islamic fundamentalists.

Fundamentalist Islamic states CANNOT survive. History shows us they don't. Fundamentalist Islamic states want to spread their joy to their neighbors. They demand a rigid social structure that stifles economic anything. By their nature they are not democratic.

Iran will cut their own throat in one of two ways. 1) Their regime will alienate the population to the point of revolution, again, or 2) Their nuclear program will cause a strike by a neighboring nation that will cripple Iran's ability to A) project force regionally and B) destabilize the government enough to be overthrown. Saudi Arabia has already given Israel the green light to use its air space in a strike against Iran. The writing is on the wall. It's only a matter of time.

No. The next conflict will be... Drum roll please....

China.

And everyone here knows why.