Agents of ill will, not piety, are villains of peace

Wars and violent conflicts make one feel despair for the human condition, but history suggests that decency and tolerance survive and thrive in the long run. Each society has its piety, and every culture has its sacred cows, so it is as wrong to impose intolerance from the outside as it is to stifle diversity within.

The Charlie Hebdo attack has been traced back to hate-filled Islamists residing in the Arabian Peninsula who proselytize and fund cruel mutations of an ancient creed with the tragic result that some youth are recruited to become killers and suicide bombers, fanning the flames of hatred around the world.

It is this divisive hate, more than any of the second-tier press issues, that needs to be addressed in a concerted manner by US, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, India and other countries that have been victims of extreme Islamist violence.

The agents of ill will who would turn the suburbs of Paris, or the streets of lower Manhattan, or the port of Bombay, or the desert reaches of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region into a battlefield for their own twisted purposes are the root of the problem, and as such, the common enemy to civilization on earth in all its diverse manifestations.

The author is a media researcher covering Asian politics.