the outcome of the election

[kandrathe]

I think the problem is not fundatmentally with islamd but with poverty. There had to come a time that countries (or people) did not agree anymore with the division of rich and poor (1st 2nd 3rd world). The best way to start a revolt is of course to use religion (poor against rich does not work because as soon as a poor man gets rich he switches sides). The fundamentalism was existing for a long time, only did not work so good since most muslims still did not see a reason to hate the west, okay there was Israel..but okay. Now when the conflcit gets fired up from two sides everyhting is possible. We in the rich west were not so smart to see that deep inside religion was not the problem here. Instead we put oil on the fire. You cannot expect the side of the muslims  to stop very soon, after Iraq, it will take (like Armin said) 10s of years before you have children there that don't hate us, and they have nothing to lose.

So long story short, religion is not the cause here in this conflict, is it a tool people use to get their way, if we want to end this conflict we should work on major economic reforms. Which means forcing the people in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait etc. to work the way we want. To make sure that there the monet doesn't stay in the hand of some sjeiks (bush friends) but goes to the people. Going to the poorest countries in the region to make trouble started a conflict, it did not end one.
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If you compare yourself to your richer neighbor and envy his wealth you can either choose to work harder to match his wealth or burn down his house. There are three problems here, first the disparity, second the envy, and third the solution.

The rich west was not always so rich, and it became rich sometimes on the backs of slaves, but also through hard work and industrialism. The US is one of the wealthiest nations in the world and merely a few hundred years old. This wealth was built, sometimes unscrupulously, but by and large it was built by hard work.

For the Netherlands, you can look to diamonds, and the exploitation of Africa and Africans. The oil rich gulf states are not poor nations, but their rulers impose poverty, enslavement, and malaise upon their subjects. What WE need to do is back the side of morality and freedom, rather than proping up the despots.

I agree that devious old men are twisting islam to mold young boys into weapons. The children in Iraq don't hate unless they are taught to hate, and rather than ask "What did we do to deserve this?", we need to stand behind our moral conviction that we are defeating despotism in Iraq, and soon Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Yeman, UAE, etc. The time has come for us to stop being tolerant of the anachronistic feudal systems that have perpetuated in the middle east, as they have become an obstacle to a peaceful and prosperous world.