Bouvard on US-China-Russia Islamic Alliance

A simple way of reconfiguring the world order or scene was suggested to me by Nicole Marino, and I plan to start exploring it. Simply put: why couldn't the US and China settle their rivalry by combining to fight a shared enemy: Islam? @elocinationn

@elocinationn I have never seen anyone, even the most anti-Islamic polemicists suggest something like this, nor have I ever considered it myself and the reason in both cases must be the rigidity of Cold War thinking and of the assumption that the world must be shaped by great power rivalry.

@elocinationn And, of course, once we say the US and China, why not add Russia (that Europe would be welcome goes without saying)? This simple proposal would in fact involve very thorough rethinking of politics across the board and some reckonings within each of the states in question.

@elocinationn What it would mean to name Islam the enemy (think of the inhibitions that must be overcome even to think it), to say that Islam has already declared itself the enemy of the rest of the world, would have to be determined. The major powers would have to break their habit of using

@elocinationn Islam and Muslims to weaken and subvert each other. New approaches to sovereignty might come into play, which I think Trump is preparing us for in a small way. Anyway, I am certain I will be returning to this.

@truepeers @elocinationn For the Chinese the possibility of a more pacified world might be more compelling than supressing Islam--presumably they feel they have the Uyghur situation in hand. Maybe they'd rather not be using combustible countries like Pakistan and Iran as cat's paws.

@ExplodingBoner @elocinationn The differences between them allow for a hierarchy of enmity. But that doesn't prevent us from drawing a firm line beyond which Islam and Muslims cannot encroach. We can get along to varying degrees with those who respect the line to those degrees.

@elocinationn @ExplodingBoner A very detailed and defensible line would have to be drawn up--territorial, financial, political, intellectual. This would have to be done well because it would be the basis for the alliance, a way to hold partners accountable.

@ExplodingBoner @elocinationn I'm not complete sure yet what the line would be or how it would apply to Islamic countries themselves. If they are expelled from non-Muslim countries, there's still Pakistan and India, Turkey potentially threatening Greece and maybe more, oil cartels, perhaps new radical regimes

@elocinationn @ExplodingBoner Yes, but expulsion from the West would already cover this. Is the Islamic World itself, even if "quarantined," still to be seen as an enemy?