Know thy enemy? That's a good idea, especially for us Americans when we set out to police the world. Another good idea is to know who our real friends are. Confusion, in this age of a so-called "clash of civilizations" - where the enemy is said to be Islam - is definitely a bad idea.
So here's the question of the day: Indonesia, that far-flung archipelago in Southeast Asia that's home to more Muslims than any nation on earth - is it friend or foe?
The question is especially salient with all that's roiling in the Middle East right now, raising anew more questions about Islam. And, strategically speaking, Indonesia (right next to Singapore, that quiet but firm friend of America, and not far from Australia, that noisy but pivotal U.S. ally) straddles heavily sailed-through commercial sea lanes. Right now, this overwhelmingly Muslim nation may be the most important country in the world that we Americans tend to know least about.