Islamic fanatics struck another blow for cynicism last Friday night in Paris -- wholesale and gratuitous slaughter in the name of their sanguinary Muslim god. History teaches few lessons these days. We say “Muslim god" because most other religions forsook ritual religious slaughter centuries ago. Indeed, the nearest historical comparison is actually political. Before contemporary jihad, the Nazis were the last imperial movement to use industrial scale pogroms to underwrite an ideological message. Ironically, the EU now opens its borders to religious fascism more virulent than the political strain that led to the Holocaust and associated carnage of WWII. Angela Merkel does the ironic walk of shame here. Alas, any distinction between politics and religion in a Muslim context is now moot. Politics are mostly religious in the Ummah and dystopic religion seems to be the only relevant politics permissible in much of the Muslim world. Indeed, the irony is compound. The...(Read Full Post)