To Matty P

Submitted by Judy (United States), Aug 26, 2006 at 12:32

What you say would have merit IF (and it's a big IF) the Muslims wanted education (other than religious brainwashing) and a secular government. All I'm seeing is mullahs running the Middle East and making the West the scapegoat, instead of addressing their own problems of over-population and secular education.

China needs oil because the US trades with them. Reinstate the high import taxes and that situation will change. Besides which, all the Chinese are making currently is cheap junk. I think the US could safely do without crap that falls apart in the parking lot as you're carrying it out of Wal-Mart. The same goes for India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc.

As to my Russian cousins (my grandparents came from the old USSR), the West needs to quit dancing around and openly support their efforts in Chechnya. They are under the same threat as the West. Russia HAS oil, so maybe we could outsource to Russia (instead of China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc) and get quality goods while we build good relations. Then, the Russians wouldn't need to sell anything to the Middle East.

I had a good laugh about you blaming the British and Americans for the plight of the Middle East. It isn't the West who has been telling the muslims to breed ...and live in abject poverty. If any of the problems in the Middle East belong at the doorstep of the West, it's introducing them to the modern world. You can't expect someone to go from riding a camel to driving a car overnight, can you? It WOULD foster a sense of inferiority to be living in the 7th century when everyone else is in the 20th.

There are peaceful passages in the Koran. Unfortunately, that's not the part of the book these Muslims are interested in. Just as, in the Middle Ages, the catholics were more interested in the Inquisition than the bible.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".