Like the Danish cartoon uproar in 2005 when Muslims took to the streets in outrage because the newspaper Jyllands-Posten published a series of twelve cartoons about the prophet Muhammad, the Spaniards now find themselves being threatened and sued by Islamic organizations. Moreover, this incident has sparked a diplomatic confrontation and has created an international uproar within the Muslim world.

The Spanish nightclub event began in August 2010 "when a Senegalese immigrant rejected a job offer at La Meca because the club's name offended his religion. Soon after, a group of Muslim radicals posted a video on the Internet calling for a boycott of Spanish goods and a jihad against those who 'blaspheme the name of Allah.'"

In fact, in early September, Spain's intelligence agency actually warned La Meca's owners that the discotheque was being directly targeted by Islamic extremists. Mohamed Ali, of the Spanish Federation of Islamic Entities stated that "calling a place for dancing and drinking by that name is grotesque and constitutes a lack of respect for Muslims." A suit against the discotheque is being considered "for insulting the honor of [Islam.]"

The net effect is that yet another European country is now surrendering to the demands of Muslims who claim that "territories once occupied by Muslims must remain under Muslim domination forever." In September of this year, the Spanish intelligence agency "reported a jihadist 'media offensive' unlike any seen since the March 2004 attacks in Madrid. Analysts say that ... jihadists are now calling for a 'crusade' that involves Spain's two North African enclaves, Ceuta and Melilla."

In another example of Islamist dominance, in Egypt, Coptic Christian leader Pope Shenouda III "apologized in a television interview to any Muslims who were offended after [Shenouda's] top Bishop reportedly 'disputed the authenticity' of some verses of the Koran." So once again, the Muslim world shuts down dissenting voices and erupts in mindless violence. Shenouda acknowledges that Egypt is "not their country anymore." He states that the [Coptics] "are the ones who are guests since Muslims are the majority."

In fact, Coptics and other non-Muslims have been reduced to dhimmis under constant threat from their Islamic overlords. Construction of new churches or fixing of old ones is forbidden under Islamic law and Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie urges Muslims to "respond to whomever slanders the book of God or the prophet."

This blackmail by Islamists is becoming a daily exercise as the West permits itself to be bullied by the emerging caliphate. American ideals of liberty as stated in the First Amendment are completely foreign notions to the Muslim world as they threaten, intimidate, and murder anyone who disagrees with an iota of their belief system. And the escalating intolerance will soon have official United Nations sanction as the "Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has called upon the international community to make collective efforts to prevent incitement to hatred and discrimination against Muslims[.]"

In essence, the OIC wants the United Nations to develop a "legally binding institutional instrument" to muzzle free speech about Islam and jihad. This coming from people who spew hate cartoons against Jews and Christians, who teach their children vile lies, and who engage in deliberate obfuscation known as taqiyya or lying for the sake of Islam is breathtaking. While Christians and Jews are terrorized and their respective buildings of worship are burned, the foreign ministers of the OIC are concerned about the alleged "increasing acts of Islamophobia and growing trend of intolerance and hatred toward Muslims."

These three events are not isolated occurrences and exemplify the findings of a Center for Security Policy report entitled Shariah: The Threat to America -- An Exercise in Competitive Analysis --Report of Team 'B' II published in 2010. Some salient features of this 170+ page report include:

* Sharia is a totalitarian, socio-political doctrine because it seeks to regulate all manner of behavior in the secular sphere -- economic, social, military, legal, and political. In fact, "shariah is fundamentally about power, namely the enforcement of a body of law, not faith."

* Whether pursued through the violent form of jihad or holy war or stealthier practices referred to as dawa, shariah rejects fundamental premises of American society and values such as freedom of conscience; individual liberty (including in matters of personal privacy and sexual preference; freedom of expression (including the liberty to analyze and criticize shariah), economic liberty (including private property); equal treatment under the law (including that of men and women, and of Muslims and non-Muslims) [and] an abiding commitment to deflate and resolve political controversies by the ordinary mechanisms of federalism and democracy, not wanton violence. In fact, "any system of man-made law is considered illicit under Islamic law[.]" Thus, "Islam and democracy can never co-exist in harmony."

In fact, the unremitting rhetoric of rage emanating from the Muslim world must be viewed as a hypocritical ruse to bully the West. Has the West become so lacking in resolve that it should surrender to these hysterical rants as if there were any merit to them?

Andrew C. McCarthy, Harry Edward Soyster, and R. James Woolsey, authors of Shariah: The Threat to America analysis unequivocally state that American "leadership has ... failed to appreciate the complementary subversion campaigns posed by groups like the Muslim Brotherhood[.]" The Brotherhood "has succeeded in penetrating our educational, legal and political systems, as well as top levels of government, intelligence, the media, and the U.S. military, virtually paralyzing our ability to respond effectively."

Until Americans accept the fact that shariah is "as totalitarian a political program as ever were those of communism, fascism, national socialism, or Japanese imperialism" we will never truly combat the enemy "inside our perimeter." We have abdicated teaching our young people about the timeless ideals of American democracy, while "in many mosques, the overthrow of the U.S. Constitution is being encouraged" through printed material and in textbooks.

Consequently, not addressing the "internal threat that has masked itself as a religion" and permitting Muslim Brotherhood free reign when they "demand that free speech be barred where it gives offense to them, effectively imposes shariah blasphemy laws in this country."

Ostensibly mollifying the Islamic world by changing the name of a nightclub, by complying with shariah financing or by having American women whether they be Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton or Diane Sawyer wear a head covering or hijab is a subtle acquiescence by the West which will only embolden the enemy. Bat Ya'or explains that this "tacit, non-comprehended acceptance of shariah's dictates" in essence "puts the Western public sphere in the position of conforming to one of the basic rules of dhimmitude: the express prohibition of Christians and Jews to criticize Islamic history and doctrine."

We must identify, recognize and defeat every facet of shariah's designs and the people who promulgate it. We must begin to educate ourselves about this existential threat.

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com