First, let me apologize for not responding to comments in the last week or more. I have been traveling and will be for the next week or ten days. When I get home, I will respond to all of you who have generously taken the time to comment.

This piece was published on the National Interest’s foreign-policy blog this week. I must say that it is amazing to see how many U.S. and European leaders, and how much of the media still believe and assert that affairs in the Arab world are moving toward democracy. As I have written here before, even without knowing much about Islam it seems at least counter-intuitive for so many Westerners to believe that in a time of uncertainty, turmoil, and violence, Arabs will turn toward a culture and political system many see as irreligious and even pagan, rather than the ideas, traditions, and lifestyle found in the faith they have practiced for more than 14 centuries. That so many respected Western politicians, journalists, and academics take this position strongly suggests that our educational system — even in its most prestigious institutions — has produced several generations of graduates who are ignorant of history and lack a basic ability to analyze events logically.

It also interesting to hear the U.S.-citizen, Israel-First gang cheering the destruction of the Arab tyrannies that have helped defend Israel’s borders for the last 35 years, as well as still calling for war with Iran, even as the growth of Sunni religious power across the Arab world further isolates, contains, and threatens the Shia regime in Tehran. As always, Israel’s worst and most lethal enemies are to be found among its war-mongering U.S.-citizen supporters.