Islam's Key Quartet

Islam's Key Quartet

Nearly fifty countries have Muslim majorities but just four of them, clustered in a relatively compact geographical region, have special importance in determining Islam's future. They are:
Turkey, which leads the way to Islamism 2.0, a more democratic and sophisticated version of the supremacist and totalitarian ideology forwarded by Khomeini and Osama bin Laden.
Iran, which leads the way out of Islamism even as its apocalyptic leaders build nuclear weapons.
Pakistan, which hosts the most volatile mix of problems on the planet, from catastrophic floods to a Taliban insurgency, with nuclear weapons always in the background.
Saudi Arabia, home of the Kaaba, Wahhabism, and sovereign fund wealth, and where the leadership is taking tentative steps to join the modern world.

(January 1, 2011)