For a modern and forward-looking country like the US, where today even the Cold War is seen as irrelevant ancient history, to fully understand the depth of Islamic history requires a major intellectual leap. But Samuel Huntington got it pretty right over a decade ago. If what we see now is not a clash of civilizations what is?

Samuel Huntington on ’the denationalisation of the American elite’: "The central distinction between the public and elites is not isolationism versus internationalism, but nationalism versus cosmopolitanism... Yes, the number of dead souls is small but growing among America’s business, professional, intellectual and academic elites... they also have decreasing ties with the American nation."

And Huntington’s critique of Mexican immigration into the USA has attracted bitter criticism and the usual accusations of racism from Mexicans: "Jose Murat, governor of the Mexican state of Oaxaca, wrote an editorial for Universal (March 27th, 2004) assaulting Professor Huntington. The editorial’s title was "Huntington, nueva ola fascista" ["Huntington, New Fascist Wave."]. Bear in mind that Mexican governors are big immigration boosters. Simply put, Governor Murat would like to get as many Oaxacans out of Oaxaca as possible, so they won’t be hanging around demanding jobs or social services. Murat would prefer Uncle Sam provide those benefits north of the border."