It occurred to me shortly after I posted on Iran and the Soviet Union that the tactical dispute between the Iranians and Al-Qaeda over the spread of Islamic political ideology resembles the battle between Stalin and Trotsky over “socialism in one country.” Stalin, and the Iranians, focused on building up and protecting the homeland; Trotsky, and Al-Qaeda, thought the battle could only be won in the end by taking on and defeating the enemy in its stronghold.
What does this mean? The obvious answer is that building a single state based on ideology is a lot easier than promoting world revolution, but that the ideology may be heavily corrupted in that process.