Every day, people in the West wake up, go to work, take care of their children, and run from one task to another. Life feels stable and familiar. Because of this, many believe that this is how things have always been and always will be, and that the dangers we sometimes hear about are just background noise—useful mainly for politicians and the media to promote themselves. If only that were true. In reality, this belief is one of the biggest illusions.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, many people thought that democracy and freedom had finally won, that major conflicts were over, and that history itself had reached its end. Sadly, the opposite turned out to be true.
Islamism has been spreading across the world at an increasing speed, and so far, every attempt to stop it has failed. About 25–30 years ago, the West tried to calm the conflict by promoting a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians. The goal was to give people in the Middle East normal lives and remove the reasons for growing anger. Arafat’s answer was clear and decisive: no to peace, yes to the Second Intifada.
After that, the West tried a different approach—using military force to build democratic regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan that would serve their people instead of Islamist movements. The result was even worse. It was like shaking a carpet full of a virus: instead of disappearing, Islamism spread faster and more widely throughout the Middle East.
Because of this failure, the West changed direction again. It eased pressure, stepped back, and tried to appease Islamist-affected societies, assuming that openness and concessions would bring peace and that Islamism would eventually fade. Once again, the result was the opposite. This approach only increased confidence, motivation, and ambition, and Islamism continued to grow.
At the same time, the West launched another experiment: mass immigration. This was meant both to solve demographic problems in Western countries and to export Western values back to immigrant communities, all under the banner of DEI. This effort also failed. Instead of spreading freedom and democracy to the Islamic world, Islam became deeply rooted inside Western societies themselves.
Western politicians appear unable to think far ahead. Like children just learning chess, they look only one or two moves forward and fail to predict how the other side will respond. Again and again, they repeat the same mistake: they do not understand the long-term consequences of their policies toward Islamism.
Looking at all these failures, it may seem that the West has tried everything and has no options left. War and pressure create hatred, while retreat and attempts at coexistence create a sense of victory and encourage further aggression. So what is left to do? That is the key question. To answer it, we must first understand why all previous strategies failed.
Islamism is a violent ideology that needs constant expansion to survive. Like fire, it requires continuous fuel. When there is nothing new to burn, the fire dies out. The same applies here: when Islamist violence can no longer expand outward, it turns inward. Any violent society that cannot grow, take resources, or conquer new ground eventually collapses into itself. This happens because it cannot create, build, or sustain normal life—only destroy.
History gives us a clear example. About a century ago, communism tried to conquer the world. Once it was stopped from expanding, it created an empty space inside its own societies. Unable to deal with everyday reality, it eventually collapsed from within.
If this analysis is correct, then the right strategy against Islamism is neither to “feed” it by intervening in the internal affairs of Muslim nations or forcing democracy on societies that are not ready for it—thereby generating anger—nor to retreat or make concessions that only strengthen its motivation. The correct approach is to build an iron wall—one that Islamism cannot break through. Every provocation must be met with a strong response and bring zero gains—zero, nothing. Any weapon they attempt to build, whether military, propagandistic, or otherwise, must be taken out of their hands. Any path they attempt to use to spread their influence must be blocked, so that their efforts become futile and lead to a sense of dead end.
This strategy must apply in all areas, not only militarily. It must include economic pressure, technological limits, narrative warfare, and especially demographics—the area where Islamism believes it has its strongest advantage. If demographic growth rates in Western societies catch up with those in Islamic states, Islamism’s long-term strategy will suffer a major blow. If democratic countries unite and stand firmly together, the damage to Islamism will be even greater. The solution lies mainly not outside us, but within us.
Step by step, this iron wall can be built—first stopping Islamism, and eventually leading to its collapse.
In short: the most effective way to fight Islamism is not by exporting Western values to societies that reject them, and not by appeasement. It is by strengthening ourselves. A strong, confident West can become the iron wall against which Islamism ultimately breaks.