Middle-East Powder Keg

Link This is the first credible place I think for a start of a third world war. We must have learned something from the first two. I think we should try to find jobs for all those unemployed Islamic militants or potential militants. Something to keep them distracted from this stupid cycle of violence against Israel.

I think there have been books written about why Islam has become radicalized. A wikipedia entry (go to Recent History section) hints at some possible reasons. One was the development of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Here America is actually partially at fault. It gave support to the Taliban to fight the Soviets. The other is Israel's continuing flourishing despite Islamists declaring her an avowed enemy. After reading this entry, it seems to hint at possible near-future collapse in radical Islam, this could be the last gasp and this may be why they are so desperate to strike now. If they did not strike the Moslim population might become contented and happy and there would be no more need for these militias. So I guess we just need to try to make the people of these states happy so that they will shut down these militias of their own accord.

An Op-ed by Thomas Friedman describes the (obvious) problem: the moderate Moslim is an unarmed one. The radical one is the armed one. Even though moderates might outnumber the radicals, getting the moderate to police the radical one requires some doing. I think there is a tempermental disadvantage. Still, as Friedman states, it needs doing or else these fledging democracies are going to fail.

Another author suggests an overall strategy similar to what I advocate above, but not in such simple terms. That is to examine how to show Moslim states that participating in international community and the wealth of benefits involved is worthwhile. He mentions game theory and non-zero sum games (wins points with me).