A solid post. In this context I'd drill down a bit to the idea of "fanaticism"...
And if you ask me, fanaticism never lasts very long anywhere, only for about a generation during turbulent times.
That is what King George and his redcoats said about the ragtag colonials, American as well as those who suffered the king's abuse into the 20th Centruty.
My running, personal theory is that Muslim fundamentalism (and in general, most fundamentalisms) get going when the locals gain a persistent sense that they're gettin' screwed over, and that their current government ain't helping a whole lot. It's kind of a devil's bargain to obtain a source of strength. By necessity it needs to reject a lot of the local culture, otherwise there isn't sufficient motivation to fight. In general, it's probably on many levels predictable and even reasonable. Of course, this can boil over into bizarre, "fanatical" behavior, but then again as Mr Young so aptly put it, "fanatical" is what the screw-ers normally call mass behavior they don't like. In the case of Nukes, I'd point out that the nuclear nations have a distinct advantage at the UN or any other bargaining table, so if I were Iranian I'd be working pretty hard to get something quasi-viable together that could be called a "nuke". Of course, the few truly "fanatical" members of the local nuke-wannabees might get a hold of the block box and, well, that sucks. -TD _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/