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Vali Nasr's 'Forces of Fortune'

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Vali Nasr, Iranian-born Iran scholar and adviser to the Obama administration, sees the same headlines you do when it comes to the Muslim world.

Just in the last week, it’s terror plots, missile tests, and nuclear dreams. And Nasr is advising special envoy Richard Holbrooke as the U.S. decides on more troops for Afghanistan.

It’s a daunting line-up. And still, he says, look behind the headlines.

There’s a Muslim middle class rising that wants business, not bombs. Exports, not extremism.

If they win, he says, moderation wins.

This hour, On Point: Vali Nasr on Islamic extremism and the Muslim world’s middle class.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.Guest:

Vali Nasr joins us from Washington. A leading thinker on the Islamic world, he is professor of international relations at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a senior adviser to Richard Holbrooke, U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. His new book is “Forces of Fortune: The Rise of the New Muslim Middle Class and What it Will Mean for Our World."

Read an excerpt from "Forces of Fortune."

This program aired on September 28, 2009.

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