As many of us point out regularly, our safest future lies in cooperation as (distinctly) opposed to competition. This not only applies to new types of business organizations, new political structures (ie real democracy) and new types of social activist groups (driven by www), but also to diplomacy.

International diplomacy is just a bigger version of what we do every day - negotiate as fairly as possible the differences between different cultures. Or, in our everyday case, it is the negotiation between different 'personalities'.

But it is the same problem. And the first part of a solution is always to try to understand the other person's point of view - if you want to find a workable compromise. That is what cooperation is: finding workable compromises - ways to move forward.

In the area of this diary, that means trying to understand the basic beliefs, perceptions, history and traditions of Islam. It means also looking at our non-Islamic world through the eyes, not only of Islam (or any other major or minor belief set), but also the living conditions and aspirations of people who are not able to live like us.

We use diplomacy to avoid conflict, not to impose our beliefs on others.

You can't be me, I'm taken