Quote from cdbern:
Okay, lets simplify this thread.
Get past politics and religion.
We have how many million young Americans that will be looking for jobs? How are we as a Nation going to address the issue?
I think Friedman has a point about young Muslims and the lack of jobs. We could be facing that same thing. My youngest son's friend has been out everyday for 4 months trying to find work.
How many young people graduate from college and are unable to find employment? Neither Party has addressed the issue. We as a Nation haven't addressed the issue.
Lets address it here. Lets get creative.
cdbern, I think it's cute the way you want to look past politics and religion trying to find your 'root cause'. Unfortunately, the truth doesn't care whether you're comfortable with it or not. And the truth, in this case, is oh so painfully obvious. I think you know this.
As Rearden said, there are MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS of starving people all throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin and Central America and the Indian subcontinent. How many of them are BLOWING THEMSELVES AND OTHERS UP because of it? Come on man, it doesn't take a genius to connect the dots on this one.
To ART, who, like most liberals these days, will make conjour up the most ridiculous associations in an effort to make everything, but everything, wrong with the world in some way the fault of George Bush. Hilarious. Even more so when it comes packaged in holier-than-thou overtones. What a riot!

As for the millions of Americans losing jobs, I don't really see the need for any urgent effort for "we as a Nation" to do be doing anything more about than providing an atmosphere where business can flourish and jobs can be created. Protectionism certainly isn't the answer. So funny to watch so-called "progressives" try and stop progress from occurring when it comes to globalism.
And no, Freidman doesn't have a point about young muslims and lack of jobs. There are young people the world over without jobs and EVEN LESS prospect of finding one than the young muslims. So what's the point?
Personally, I don't see how the hell they can be helped unless they're first willing to help themselves. Fact is, these people want their societies and politics to be more Muslim. And, so very unfortunately, there is, as history has amply shown, an inverse relationship between the muslim-ness of a society and its politics and economic progress. Again, it doesn't take a genius to connect the dots on this.
So, given that none of these muslim countries appear remotely willing to secularize and modernize their states, I don't see that anything more can be done about them then keeping the offer of assistance open and defending ourselves from the next time one of their inevitable, culturally inbred, outbursts of Islam inspired and backed violence rears its head.