'Clash of civilizations' looms between Islam and West: Mahathir

comments     Lawrence Bartlett     Published     Updated

The world has been sucked into a dangerous "clash of civilizations" by the West's failure to understand Muslim grievances, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said in an interview here.

Speaking exclusively to AFP ahead of a visit by French President Jacques Chirac, the veteran Southeast Asian Muslim leader defended his recent vilification of Westerners as greedy warmongers aiming to dominate the world.

And he stood by his call on Muslim nations to build up their military strength so as to fulfill a Koranic injunction to "strike fear into the hearts of their enemies".

When Chirac meets Mahathir here during a brief visit Tuesday, however, he can take comfort from the fact that he is considered "sane and normal" - some of the time at least.

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