"Islamic fundamentalism…is at least as dangerous as communism was. Please do not underestimate this risk."
1 So stated Willy Claes, former Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in a recent interview. Similar remarks have been made by prominent politicians and world leaders on nearly every continent. Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany claimed "the danger of fundamentalism...is one of the greatest dangers we are facing today."
2 French Defense Minister Francois Leotard declared: "Islamic fundamentalism is as dangerous today as Nazism once was."
3
On the African continent, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe promised African countries "are taking steps to prevent destabilisation by the fundamentalist element of Islam."
4 Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in a statement of support for Yasser Arafat, urged the West to be more forthcoming with financial aid; "otherwise all the Palestinians will become fundamentalists."
5
Israeli leaders have frequently spoken on the issue. Former President Chaim Herzog, speaking before the Polish Parliament, cautioned that "the disease [of Islamic fundamentalism] is spreading rapidly and constitutes not only a danger to the Jewish people, but to humanity in general." In light of this near ubiquitous attention and apprehension surrounding the emergence of Islamism on the world stage, do the activities of Islamist groups pose a threat to international security? If so, to what extent?
Nader A. Hashemi is a recent graduate of the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.
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