Yes, of course BL's latest video sounds bizarre to American ears, and rationally it IS bizarre. I found it particularly odd that he claimed the height of Moslem political power corresponded to the 'true belief' of the leaders of the Moslem world. Anyone who knows ANYTHING about the Sultans of the Ottoman and Seljuk empires knows that the leaders were anything but consistent, anything but devout and, by almost any standard, anything but even decent.

But I don't think Anne Applebaum is correct in assuming that BL is aiming this at the American 'market'. It is aimed at the converted. What is the point of trying to convert a few alienated twits in the US ? The aim is to convert more of the Faithful to a more radical brand of Islam. Ironically he is trying to do this by suggesting that his version is actually more tolerant and kind.

However, it is the kind of speech that I can hear being applauded and accompanied by yay-shouting, all over the Moslem world - because they already believe most of what BL says: that a theocratic Moslem world system would be the most benevolent, and as proof they would say that BL is still reaching out to the US with a kind hand, asking them to 'see reason' and stop their brutality. The conversion of a few dopes in the West would simply be a fringe benefit.

Frankly, I see the same kinds of unthinking applause and yay-saying in US churches whenever anyone spouts the US credes of Democracy, godliness and liberty. The converted are quite happy to overlook their own inconsistencies and irrationalities of their leaders (whether on the political or religious pulpit) as the Moslems are. Just look at the fanatical and absurd flag waving and ranting we got from the US after 9/11 - the rest of the world looked horrified when we heard US leaders saying 'they hate us for our freedom and our kindness'....

However, many of us around the world DO agree with BL that the US system is dominated by corporate power - you only need to look at the present administration (in which virtually ALL the key positions are held by 'ex-' cronies of the very corporations who are benefitting from the administration's policies) to understand why the rest of the world at least has GROUNDS for suspicion. This, and the fact that the oil and armaments industries have never had it so good as when the Bush administration took it upon themselves to protect the oil flow for the sake of the consumer - like they liberalised the energy industry for the sake of the consumer. John Bolton recently, in a rare display of honesty, stated in an interview that the US would continue to follow its OWN interests in Iraq and the Middle East and that the sooner the Iraqis came to terms with this reality, the sooner an accommodation could be reached.

As long as the people of the US allow their ideals to be corrupted and used as a screen for the greed and often criminal activities of their leaders (political and corporate), the sooner we might have a real chance of getting greater peace in the world.

The simple fact is that BL HAS had more effect on the world than he could ever have hoped, but his single achievement was to give the fanatics, radicals and crooks of the West a chance to do things they could NEVER have contemplated without his activities. Since he probably wants an Armageddon, BL probably is happy to see the explosion of fanaticism on all sides. The rest of us should be appalled, both by him and the US response.

When the US has a house cleaning that makes the Corporate voice simply one voice among many instead of the key determinant in election results and administration policies in the US, then we can stop the use of taxpayer money to give 'loans' (invariably 'lost' and NEVER used to actually assist the poor) and arms to the autocratic administrations of the third world, which then allow Western corporations to plunder the resources of the third world. This simply must stop.

BL is shrewdly trying to tell the world (NOT the Americans) that the US ideals cannot work because they ARE not working, they are being used merely as a smoke screen for US aggrandisement. What we need to do is to show that the ideals are not wrong, that they CAN work. Meanwhile, the US' policies may not EXCUSE the activities of people like BL but they certainly help to explain why they occur.