Malaysian PM's List of Demands to the Kafirs

"Just do as we say, and no one gets hurt."

That's pretty much what Malaysia's Prime Minister said in his recent, widely-covered remarks at a conference here in Kuala Lumpur last Friday. Of course, he wasn't so uncouth as to call them Dar al Islam's demands, but this is indeed what they are.

Here's a local columnist's fawning treatment:

The PM’s analysis that “the crusades, western colonialism, imposition of Israel upon the Arab world, post-colonial hegemony and Western desire to control oil and gas, especially supplies from Muslim countries, contributed to the huge chasm that had emerged between the West and Islam” did encapsulate the legitimate grievances of the Muslim world.

And of course, the biggest Muslim grievance of them all ... wait for it ...

However, it appears that the Western establishment is unable to condemn the military and indeed terrorist action that actually wiped Palestine off the map when the state of Israel was created on Palestinian land.

Yes, this is how they actually think here.

How is the west supposed to 'deal' with this lengthy list of 'grievances'? For historical events that are centuries past, like the Crusades (R. Spencer justly calls them wars of self-defense) or Western Colonialism? What about Arab Colonialism? Strange, the PM doesn't mention it in his speech.

And the Muslim countries that pump oil for $5 and sell it for $70--only a Muslim leader could consider this to be a problem. How is this 'problem' for the ones that sell the oil (i.e. mostly Arab Muslims) at such huge profits? If a several trillion dollar windfall for the Arab world is a problem in the PM's eyes, I wonder what it would take to have a solution.

Remember, this is the thinking of a 'moderate' Muslim leader and the Muslim media. Israel has done nothing to Malaysians, and yet Malaysians consider the very creation of the Jewish state to be a 'crime'. It's very representative of mainstream Muslim thinking--Iran's recent promises to 'remove' Israel went were not mentioned, let alone condemned, in the Malaysian PM's remarks. Does silence equal assent? Isn't it obvious?

As far as trying to satiate such a list of grievances, well, that's pretty much a non-starter, as far as I'm concerned. Wait, that's not stating the situation strongly enough. Actually, trying to reason with someone with such petulant demands is impossible.