Blood and Iron

Before Prussia set off what would become the aggressive expansionism of Germany, Otto von Bismarck gave his famous "blood and iron" speech. There are disturbingly similar notions expressed in notions of convert by the sword Islamism. When Iranian leaders talk of wiping Israel from the map, they really mean it. When jihadists declare their desire to reclaim Spain, they are not kidding. When in many places in the Islamic world, Draconian punishments are imposed for supposed apostasy or blasphemy that mean a painful death for the accused and in a culture so misogynistic that women may be stoned for adultery, blood threats must be taken ever so seriously, for when a jihadist says, he "loves death more than the infidel loves life", he is declaring his intention, even at the cost of his own life, to kill you.