SOME GOOD NEWS? – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  We're always glad to report good news, if we can find it.  I went to a lecture last week by the truly distinguished Middle East and Islam expert Walid Phares, who noted that many Muslims, especially young Muslims, are starting to turn away from radicalism because they see that it leads nowhere for them.  From The New York Times:

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Last September, ultraconservative Islamic groups telegraphed their power, railing against an international beauty contest until the government ordered it to be staged entirely on the Hindu resort island of Bali. In 2012, radical Islamic groups known for their violent tactics and religious conservatives raised enough of a fuss that Lady Gaga canceled a concert here in the Indonesian capital. And hundreds of local governments in recent years have passed rules on morality and dress inspired by Shariah, or Islamic law, and instituted bans on alcohol.

But now, just ahead of Wednesday’s national legislative elections, polls and analysts suggest that Islamic-based parties are poised for what could be their worst showing since Indonesia’s democratic era began in 1999. At least two of the parties are polling so low that they might lose any presence in the House of Representatives.

“You’re looking at a substantial drop for them,” said Paul Rowland, a Jakarta-based political consultant. “They are not a significant factor.”

The slide in popularity, first noticed in the 2009 elections, appears to be worsening despite studies showing that Indonesians are becoming more pious.

Why political Islam has not taken deep root on a national level in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country — where about 90 percent of people are among the faithful — is a complicated question. The reasons lie in Indonesia’s history as a secular nation and in the Islamic parties’ own recent record.

COMMENT:  We also saw, last weekend, a very successful election in Afghanistan, showing that democratic gains have been made there, on our watch.  Sadly, President Obama is withdrawing from Afghanistan this year, and those gains might be lost.  Not that he cares.

And the Muslim Brotherhood was overthrown in Egypt.  Against Obama's will.

Many Muslims may finally be learning the cost of being kept in the tenth century.  But as they are, they are getting precious little help from the likes of Barack Obama and other "sophisticates" and "multiculturalists" in the West, whose interest in human freedom is marginal at best.

April 8, 2014