Nice idea, but you’ve overlooked something

Matthew Paris, writing in the Spectator, thinks Islamism is somewhat less than an existential threat to the West:

We are hugely overestimating our supposed enemy. We are overlooking the

fractures and potential fractures within it. Even if we were not — even

if Islamism really were a great, fearsome and growing beast — cynics

would say that we in Europe and America would be best advised to let

its most implacable enemies shed their blood and money confronting its

advance.
…
We should stand well clear. An imperium in its death throes can be a

nasty beast; I am by the same token nervous that the American empire

may lurch dangerously around for decades to come. For the rest of us,

as we contemplate these dysfunctional beasts, the best advice is that

offered to his country (when America really was at a zenith) by

President Truman, as the Soviet imperium headed for its afternoon:

containment, not confrontation, is the wisest policy.

That’s all well and good, but while America stands aside and "contains" Islam, Europe gets overrun. Many Americans are still ashamed of our inaction when the Soviets rolled over Eastern Europe and consigned a generation to Russian totalitarianism. Should we do it again? Should sharia come to Londonistan, Matt Paris will be one of the first ones up against the wall.

Tip from the Instapundit.