The Belmont Club has long argued that "the hollowing out of the Left — the death of its Bolshevik core — is one of the great unwritten stories of the late twentieth century" (from Islam and the End of the Left).

The decline of the cadre of professional revolutionaries at its center was simultaneously matched by the inrush from the periphery of the network of sympathizers, fellow travelers and "useful fools" which it once adopted as protective coloration. It was a classic case of the inmates taking over an asylum from which the keepers had fled.

Belmont Club argued that the Left, now consisting of soft elements without a real core of professional revolutionaries to anchor it, would gradually lose its membership, beginning with its most radical wing, to Islam.

Islam ... will gain membership largely at the expense of Left ... That market share will be dominated by the party with the better product and the most competitive advantages ... Leftist attempts to compensate by allying themselves with Islam will only accelerate their downfall as the madrassas cannibalize the faltering socialist base. The weaker the Left becomes, the more dependent it is on alliances with Islam. The closer its alliances with Islam, the weaker the Left becomes. By and by, the Left will have nothing left to offer their allies. The Taliban did not even make a pretense of sparing the Revolutionary Association of Afghan Women from persecution.

That describes almost word for word, the fate of the Socialist moderates at the European Social Forum. And it will describe, even more accurately, the destiny of the European Left, which once proudly styled itself the "Vanguard of History", and which now finds itself staring up at a patch of ceiling from the bottom of an Islamic dustbin. Those who would inquire into the state of the Leftist church would do well to ask one of its saints, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, better known as "Carlos the Jackal."

He has just published a book in French to announce his conversion to Islam and present his strategy for "the destruction of the United States through an orchestrated and persistent campaign of terror." Entitled "Revolutionary Islam" (Editions du Rocher, 2003) and published under the name Ilich Ramirez Sanchez-CARLOS, the book urges "all revolutionaries, including those of the left, even atheists," to accept the leadership of Islamists such as Osama bin Laden and so help turn Afghanistan and Iraq into the "graveyards of American imperialism."
So lets not let that happen. Say what HILLARY

The Communist enemy against which we fought; for which Rosenberg betrayed his country; for which Giap’s legions marched, fallen to this.

(2003-12-02) -- Democrat presidential candidate Howard Dean today picked up another big labor endorsement. The former Vermont governor’s candidacy is already backed by the largest American unions for both service workers (SEIU) and government employees (AFSCME). This time the pledge of support came from what was formerly one of the world’s most powerful unions -- the Soviet Union.

In hindsight, it was no coincidence that Mr. Dean mentioned the union four times during an interview yesterday on the MSNBC show ’Hardball.’ When asked what he would do about Iran, Mr. Dean said,"The key, I believe, to Iran, is pressure through the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union is supplying much of the equipment that Iran I believe mostly likely is using to set itself along the path of developing nuclear weapons. We need to use that leverage with the Soviet Union, and it may require us buying the equipment the Soviet Union was ultimately going to sell to Iran, to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons."

A spokesman for the Soviet Union said that Mr. Dean’s suggestion that the government buy union-made goods was influential in the group’s decision to back his White House bid.

"We know Howard was trolling for an endorsement," said the unnamed source, "but that’s the way the game is played. Frankly, we’re flattered that he mentioned us on national TV. These days, even when we do get attention, people call us ’the former Soviet Union’ as if we’re a relic of a bygone era. Comrade Dean has demonstrated his solidarity with the Soviet Union, and we plan to return the favor in 2004."

— has held fundraisers for terrorists (e.g., after Hamas leader Musa Marzuk was arrested, it raised money for his defense, claiming he was innocent and not connected to terrorism)

— has condemned US seizure of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad assets in the United States after 9/11

— has consistently sponsored speakers at their conferences that defend Islamic terrorists. Recently, a leader denied in an interview with an NBC affiliate that ISNA took any Saudi money but that was a brazen lie as evidenced by a recording of an ISNA conference in which it was revealed that money came from Saudi Arabia.