The West's Long History Of Shooting Itself In The Foot

The outside help Iran has been receiving for its nuclear program is nothing new--the West seems to be rather short-sighted about providing all kinds of military capabilities to Moslem countries that may one day show a lack of gratitude in using those same weapons on their supposed benefactors.

But this blindness has a long history. Paleo Ideofact quotes Bernard Lewis' "What Went Wrong":

Even when the Ottoman Turks were advancing into southeatern Europe, they were always able to buy much needed equipment for their fleets and armies from Christian European suppliers, to recruit European experts, and even to obtain financial cover from Christian European banks. What is nowadays known as "constructive engagement" has a long history.

Paleo Ideofact also quotes Patrick Pringle's Jolly Roger: Story of the Great Age of Piracy

The main advantage of the Barbary coast to English pirates was that it afforded them protection in harbour and immunity on land. Pirates could usually look after themselves at sea, but they had to have shore refuges with facilities for disposing of their loot and cleaning and refitting their ships. Such facilities had almost ceased to exist in England since the decline of the west-country syndicates, and King James, in pursuit of his policy of friendship with Spain, took steps to see that they did not reappear.

The Moors, for their part, welcomed these hardy English seamen, who repaid their hosts by teaching them European methods of ship-building. It was Danser and Ward who first showed the Moors how to build sailing vessels instead of oared galleys. A change of this sort can only be compared with the later change from sail to steam. Its effect was tremendous--and very costly for England. No longer confined to the Mediterranean, the Barbary corsairs burst out into the Atlantic, and even sailed into the English Channel, plundering English coastal villages and carrying off the inhabitants. They continued to ravage English shipping until the nineteenth century. [emphasis added]

The point PI is making with all of this is to critique the alleged superiority of the Moslem world during the Middle Ages:

But I do criticize Lewis for his acceptance of the Islamic narrative, that up until the Renaissance or the Enlightenment, the world of Islam was far more advanced than Latin Christendom, and it was only comparitively late in history that Christendom surpassed the Islamic world.

I think another point can be made. If historically the West--both governments and unscrupulous individuals--has shown itself to be so completely blinded to their own needs and safety that they would provide invaluable aid to the Muslim world and facilitate the spread of the Muslim empire at the time--is it any wonder the ease with which Europe, and the rest of the world, today turns a blind eye to the terrorism that Israel faces?

We have already seen that what Israel faces, the West eventually faces as well. It may just be that what the world is doing is not primarily Anti-semitic--it's just greed.

Neither seems to have a cure.

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