The dispiriting drumbeat of these events - punctuated by the savage sectarian violence convulsing Iraq - are causing even temperate voices to wonder if the world is really careening into some fundamental clash of civilisations.
It's easy to predict the impact if the US decides it does not trust a company owned by even an ostensibly friendly Arab government to operate facilities at US ports. Many in the Islamic world would surely take that as a sign that America sees itself in a clash of civilisations, - and in that interpretation, the Islamic world might well be correct.
