Pug wrote:
CameronPoe wrote:
PS If people still insist on believing that Islamic extremism is capable of overrunning the west then they probably realise that this could only be achieved through advanced military technology, for example nuclear weapons. The only country in the middle east even nearly capable of that is Iran. Even if they do develop nukes and if they do want to destory the west (not just Israel) then they would still be incapable. Why? Because as soon as nuke one is fired - there will be 500 nukes heading for every courner of their country. I really think people are worrying about nothing. This is blown all out of proportion. There is no such hysteria on European media - maybe things are being presented differently stateside.
They are certainly capable of killing a few thousand people by hijacking planes or by blowing up planes en route to the US or bombing here and there. How do you counter the argument that governments in this region at least sympathize with their actions and allow the groups to exist? Shouldn't the governments supporting these groups or allowing them to exist be punished?
The fact of the matter is that we do have something invested in the region. Arguing world domination is not plausible - the real argument resides within the threat to our citizens' lives in terms of random terrorist plots, and impact on our daily lifestyle for no purpose besides intra-regional squabbling.
I'm honestly surprised Europe is not concerned about terrorism...no hysteria in the media. Don't you think Europe is an easier target because of proximity?
There is of course a proximity issue, especially with Turkey attempting to join the EU. But Europe is seen as the pro-Palestine ying to the pro-Israel yang of USA. Hence the reason only the UK have experienced two major incidents (one of which came to nothing through effective terrorism
prevention). Spain did too but that stemmed from their supporting the war in Iraq. Essentially the UK and US are lumped into one grouping by the Arabs, and Europe (minus the UK) are seen as the
relative good guys. I mean when I was in Palestine I was asked 'Are you from the good part or the bad part of Ireland?", the bad part in their eyes being the UK-occupied six counties of Northern Ireland. Arabs do differentiate. Palestinians are very savvy when it comes to current affairs and global politics. They were more anti-Bush than anti-USA. A lot of people don't realise that. There is no hysteria in the media here because we aren't into sensationalising things. I don't see anything worth getting worried about. You guys, the most powerful country on earth, seem to be shitting your pants over
the potential that someone might blow something up. Don't live in fear, live life as you always would have, hope and demand that your government provides adequate domestic security for you and if something bad does happen - get over it: life goes on. Terrorism is
completely impossible to stamp out - that is fact. So we need to get used to that fact. An unseen enemy and an ideology cannot be defeated, especially not by the means the USA have been employing most recently. We Europeans can take a bomb or two - the UK got over 7/7 with zero hysteria in a matter of a week or so: they weren't going to be afraid or change their ways. That's braver than collectively punishing an entire generalised group of people. They tightened their security since and hey presto: major disaster averted at Heathrow.
As for governments in that region supporting them: let's face it - Saudi Arabia, a dear ally of USA, does next to nothing to stamp it out and in fact lets it fester through the rigidity of the Wahabi sects style of Islam. I don't see USA pressuring them to crackdown. Not to mention the fact that if we aren't capable of cracking down on it - what chance do the puppet and despot goverments of the middle east have?
Last edited by CameronPoe (2006-08-16 13:08:43)