What do you think?
Rate this book
Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism: From George W. Bush to Barack Obama and Beyond
The military strength of the United States is unmatched in all of world history. Yet fifteen years after September 11, Islamic totalitarianism is undefeated, emboldened, and on the from Paris and San Bernardino to Brussels and Orlando. Why?
The fundamental problem lies in the irrational philosophic ideas that permeate—and subvert—American foreign policy. The United States is a military superpower, but it lacks the self-confidence and moral certainty needed to defend itself and its ideals. And our political and intellectual leaders evade the nature of Islamic totalitarianism.
After 9/11, the Ayn Rand Institute predicted that the prevailing ideas about morality would undercut our foreign policy and cripple us in action. Those predictions have proved correct.
Can we end the Islamist menace and secure our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness on earth? Yes—easily—if we adopt the right philosophic ideas to guide our foreign policy.
•About the Onkar Ghate is senior fellow and chief content officer at the Ayn Rand Institute, where Elan Journo is a fellow and director of policy research.
The fundamental problem lies in the irrational philosophic ideas that permeate—and subvert—American foreign policy. The United States is a military superpower, but it lacks the self-confidence and moral certainty needed to defend itself and its ideals. And our political and intellectual leaders evade the nature of Islamic totalitarianism.
After 9/11, the Ayn Rand Institute predicted that the prevailing ideas about morality would undercut our foreign policy and cripple us in action. Those predictions have proved correct.
Can we end the Islamist menace and secure our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness on earth? Yes—easily—if we adopt the right philosophic ideas to guide our foreign policy.
•About the Onkar Ghate is senior fellow and chief content officer at the Ayn Rand Institute, where Elan Journo is a fellow and director of policy research.
- GenresPoliticsPhilosophyIslam
181 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 14, 2016
23 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 15, 2021
Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism: from George W. Bush to Barack Obama and Beyond
Elan Journo & Onkar Ghate
©2017
A short Book Report by Ron Housley
What we’ve got here are several over-arching points, supported by clear argumentation to seal the case.
I read nearly all of these essays back when they were first published. And still ---- in spite of the compelling case this book makes that we must crush the terrorists, our national security risk continues to worsen daily…….to fall deeper into jeopardy with every official decision made by our rulers in Washington.
It’s sometimes hard to grasp why so much of the world is oblivious to the simple, easy-to-understand points which the authors highlight by describing horrendous foreign policy decisions made by governments everywhere. In all corners of the planet, it seems, age-old juggernauts are gaining steam to ignite the next world war.
Obstructing the pathway for a peaceful resolution are the moral ideas held by practically every player. In one camp we see legions of politicians, academics, journalists and citizens at large who are galvanized by the fundamental notion that it is our moral imperative to sacrifice ourselves for others: we have Americans dropping food packets on Afghanistan along with bombs; we have American putting its soldier’s lives at risk in order not to damage a mosque from which terrorists are launching attacks on the West; we have America using its military as a social service agency to serve the poor Iraqis; but nowhere do we see America acting in its own self-interest to protect the sovereign rights of its own citizens.
In the other camp we see legions mullahs, imams and terrorist leaders implementing the tenets of their religion, entirely unmoved by the idea that super-natural inspired faith is never a gateway to knowledge. They claim certainty for their belief that everybody except themselves is an infidel deserving of torture and death. But their certainty is not grounded in any actual knowledge.
(It has to be pointed out that this “faith as a pathway to knowledge” thing is embraced by both sides, but that it is more starkly a feature on the Islamist side.)
In this conflict of irrationality against irrationality, the authors try to show us a ray of light, an insight into what the rational alternative to all this madness might look like. For victory against this malignant spread of Islamic Terrorism throughout the West, the authors propose that nothing less than a philosophic revolution is required, particularly a revolution in “moral” philosophy.
Since adopting an entirely different philosophy seems to be the obstacle to peace, the solution to our terrorism problem is neither ready at hand nor likely to materialize anytime soon.
Observe that very few people seriously value examining their own philosophic premises. Our politicians seem to be oriented entirely toward self-aggrandizement and consolidation of personal (and party) power; and little else. And all that flailing is undertaken at the expense of thinking; which means: at the expense of examining the ideas which got us into such danger from Islamic Terrorism in the first place.
I have been fretting about the Islamic terrorists using atomic bombs on the West ever since September 12th. I have written about it relentlessly; I have entertained many different ways that the terrorists might give birth to their nuclear caliphate; I have pondered an EMP attack; I have been worried that a nuclear device would find its way into an unprotected New York harbor; I have read about ballistic missile tests; nearly everyone just yawns at the prospect. Nobody really believes that we’re in for worse than another 9/11 attack.
As it became more apparent in the years following 9/11 that our rulers were committed to appeasing the terrorists and to emboldening their aggression, we all developed a real reason to be in fear for our lives. Nobody really thinks that once Iran’s atomic bomb is operational that they will refrain from deploying it against their Great Satan, against America.
One of the most horrifying events of my adult life was to witness Obama handing over to the Iranian terrorists the sanction and the wherewithal to annihilate our very way of life. And when Obama called his Iranian nuclear “deal” a great accomplishment for the cause of peace, I was horrified at the passive acceptance by so many Americans, especially the MainStreet Media and the majority of our political rulers. Obama had guaranteed the terrorists an eventual nuclear weapon for use against us.
What had gone so terribly wrong that the American citizenry didn’t rise up in revolt?!
It turns out that they had been indoctrinated into embracing self-sacrifice as the moral ideal; they had been massaged over several generations into adopting a different world view; something had been done to the critical thinking which had always come to the rescue in earlier times.
Today Iran is at war with the United States; but only Iran is willing to acknowledge that fact. That war began in 1979 when Iranians assaulted and terrorized the American embassy in Tehran. And when America “failed to march with force within days after the hostage taking,” the die was cast for all of us to pay an enormous price today.
I encourage all of you to spend some time reading through this book of essays on the subject.
The book’s back cover advertises an answer (“the” answer) to why jihadist Islam is stronger now than ever before, and still on the march to kill us all — 16 years after 9/11, and 6 years after the death of Osama bin Laden.
What these essays try to do is “make the case” for a proper answer to our dilemma, to the real and growing threat to our lives — a threat that many Americans ignore or minimize in hope that it will “somehow” just go away.
Here we have a short book of essays containing the formula to make the threat actually go away.
$0.99 on Kindle, so no excuses…
Elan Journo & Onkar Ghate
©2017
A short Book Report by Ron Housley
What we’ve got here are several over-arching points, supported by clear argumentation to seal the case.
I read nearly all of these essays back when they were first published. And still ---- in spite of the compelling case this book makes that we must crush the terrorists, our national security risk continues to worsen daily…….to fall deeper into jeopardy with every official decision made by our rulers in Washington.
It’s sometimes hard to grasp why so much of the world is oblivious to the simple, easy-to-understand points which the authors highlight by describing horrendous foreign policy decisions made by governments everywhere. In all corners of the planet, it seems, age-old juggernauts are gaining steam to ignite the next world war.
Obstructing the pathway for a peaceful resolution are the moral ideas held by practically every player. In one camp we see legions of politicians, academics, journalists and citizens at large who are galvanized by the fundamental notion that it is our moral imperative to sacrifice ourselves for others: we have Americans dropping food packets on Afghanistan along with bombs; we have American putting its soldier’s lives at risk in order not to damage a mosque from which terrorists are launching attacks on the West; we have America using its military as a social service agency to serve the poor Iraqis; but nowhere do we see America acting in its own self-interest to protect the sovereign rights of its own citizens.
In the other camp we see legions mullahs, imams and terrorist leaders implementing the tenets of their religion, entirely unmoved by the idea that super-natural inspired faith is never a gateway to knowledge. They claim certainty for their belief that everybody except themselves is an infidel deserving of torture and death. But their certainty is not grounded in any actual knowledge.
(It has to be pointed out that this “faith as a pathway to knowledge” thing is embraced by both sides, but that it is more starkly a feature on the Islamist side.)
In this conflict of irrationality against irrationality, the authors try to show us a ray of light, an insight into what the rational alternative to all this madness might look like. For victory against this malignant spread of Islamic Terrorism throughout the West, the authors propose that nothing less than a philosophic revolution is required, particularly a revolution in “moral” philosophy.
Since adopting an entirely different philosophy seems to be the obstacle to peace, the solution to our terrorism problem is neither ready at hand nor likely to materialize anytime soon.
Observe that very few people seriously value examining their own philosophic premises. Our politicians seem to be oriented entirely toward self-aggrandizement and consolidation of personal (and party) power; and little else. And all that flailing is undertaken at the expense of thinking; which means: at the expense of examining the ideas which got us into such danger from Islamic Terrorism in the first place.
I have been fretting about the Islamic terrorists using atomic bombs on the West ever since September 12th. I have written about it relentlessly; I have entertained many different ways that the terrorists might give birth to their nuclear caliphate; I have pondered an EMP attack; I have been worried that a nuclear device would find its way into an unprotected New York harbor; I have read about ballistic missile tests; nearly everyone just yawns at the prospect. Nobody really believes that we’re in for worse than another 9/11 attack.
As it became more apparent in the years following 9/11 that our rulers were committed to appeasing the terrorists and to emboldening their aggression, we all developed a real reason to be in fear for our lives. Nobody really thinks that once Iran’s atomic bomb is operational that they will refrain from deploying it against their Great Satan, against America.
One of the most horrifying events of my adult life was to witness Obama handing over to the Iranian terrorists the sanction and the wherewithal to annihilate our very way of life. And when Obama called his Iranian nuclear “deal” a great accomplishment for the cause of peace, I was horrified at the passive acceptance by so many Americans, especially the MainStreet Media and the majority of our political rulers. Obama had guaranteed the terrorists an eventual nuclear weapon for use against us.
What had gone so terribly wrong that the American citizenry didn’t rise up in revolt?!
It turns out that they had been indoctrinated into embracing self-sacrifice as the moral ideal; they had been massaged over several generations into adopting a different world view; something had been done to the critical thinking which had always come to the rescue in earlier times.
Today Iran is at war with the United States; but only Iran is willing to acknowledge that fact. That war began in 1979 when Iranians assaulted and terrorized the American embassy in Tehran. And when America “failed to march with force within days after the hostage taking,” the die was cast for all of us to pay an enormous price today.
I encourage all of you to spend some time reading through this book of essays on the subject.
The book’s back cover advertises an answer (“the” answer) to why jihadist Islam is stronger now than ever before, and still on the march to kill us all — 16 years after 9/11, and 6 years after the death of Osama bin Laden.
What these essays try to do is “make the case” for a proper answer to our dilemma, to the real and growing threat to our lives — a threat that many Americans ignore or minimize in hope that it will “somehow” just go away.
Here we have a short book of essays containing the formula to make the threat actually go away.
$0.99 on Kindle, so no excuses…
February 4, 2020
Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism: From George W. Bush to Barack Obama and Beyond by Onkar Ghate poses the question of why, if America has the most powerful military in world history, do we find ourselves 15 years after 9/11 still fighting Islamic Totalitarianism. At the time of the writing of this book, Islamic Totalitarianism seemed undefeatable with ISIS on the march, and the West reeling from attacks in Paris, Brussels, Orlando, and San Bernardino to name a few. The author explores what has been preventing a victory by the West and finds several contributing factors. He states that the fundamental problem is found in the West's philosophical ideas that subvert our foreign policy. Add to that the hysteria of political correctness where we cannot even call the enemy by their right name and, instead, make excuses for them in order to not appear to be insulting the religion in who's name they proudly declare their jihad against non Muslims worldwide. Whether you agree or disagree with the author's analysis and conclusions, there are interesting and thought-provoking discussions to be had in reading this book.
January 6, 2019
As a member of Ayn Rand Institute, I am disappointed and questioning my 'loyalty' to ARI and Ayn Rand's ideology because of this book. It reads worse than a conspiracy theorist. We are not responsible for any actions that we don't initiate and hence we can do anything without worrying about the morality. Mr Ghate seems to be forgetting about people and countries here. And now that I had some time to digest all the trash this book gives, it contradicts the core principles of Objectivists. Force unless as a response is evil but Mr Ghate is recommending excessive force as a response making us the aggressors.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews