To effectively fight and eliminate terrorism, you also have to strike at its roots. Read the book “the Olive Tree and the Lexus” by Friedman. Though I do not like the fact that he doesn’t credit his theory of international conflict resolution to the people who came up with it in the 70s, it is an easy read and makes some good points.
The point I would like to expound upon is Friedman’s “Golden Arches” theory of conflict avoidence. In essence it states that no countries that have a McDonalds in them have ever gone to war with each other.
For proof, check the Middle East. There are now McDonalds in Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. There aren’t any in Iraq, Iran and Syria. Israel is at relative peace with the first group, even with Lebanon (they pulled out shortly after McDonalds opened). The second group causes the most problems with international relations (though I’m looking forward to the day that Iran has the golden arches).
Why less conflict? Because the countries are tied together economically on many levels.
My point: The “War on Terrorism” has to contain significant economic packages, otherwise it will be futile. I am damned sure that I do not want the US government controlling all of this potential investment money. I think that international business needs to have a voice in the campaign to rid the world of terrorism.
Economic incentive, hell basic greed and longing for a better life, will do more to end terrorism than any army will. Give the people of the any of the terrorist sponsoring countries a chance to better themselves if they strip away the terrorists organizations and/or governments … and you’ll see the radical changes before this decade is over.
Armed response in the short term, but economics in the long run is the key.
I feel the same, and have posted as such in a few other threads. I feel the biggest foreign policy accomplishment of the US was the implementation of the Marshall and mini-Marshall plans following World War II. The Allies went in, tore the dumps up, got rid of the bad apples, and put moderate governments into place – the stick. But, Truman also implemented broad-scale rebuilding of Europe and Japan – the carrot. As another thread has said, bomb them into the 21st century.
BTW, I thought the Golden Arches theory was shattered after the conflicts in Yugoslavia. I may be wrong, though.
Isn’t what is happening in the former Yugoslavia more akin to a civil war? A state fighting itself and ultimately disintegrating into other smaller ones. Once the new population borders are established the region will stabilize and grow economically.
The situation is the same in Israel today with the nascent Palestinian state. The violence should finally slow as they lift the economic bans.
Thank you for answering, I must have missed your earlier posts. But, at least I’m recovering from my jet lag now and I’ll look them up.
Nah, but laser guided McRib sandwiches would violate several international accords on biological and chemical weapons.
As to the O.P., I am all for economic development as an international policy*, but I don’t think it will always work. There are nations in the world that fear being “Americanized”. They ban many businesses and organizations to isolate themselves and “protect” their heritage. These banned organizations don’t even have to be American, just foreign to that particular country. We already see this with the Taliban.
IMHO, we have to establish basic personal freedoms before a region can be developed economically. Not necesarilly all the liberties that the developed world enjoys, but at least enough so that the individual can make personal economic choices. Unfortunately, sometimes the only way to do this is either with our own military or with funding of rebel factions. These are extremely messy and frequently exacerbate the problem. Too frequently it becomes a situation of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
*[sub]As an aside, the embargo on Cuba is utterly ridiculous. Drop it and let businesses start investing.[/sub]
-Beeblebrox
The Nutri-Matic was designed and manufactured by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation whose complaints department now covers all the major land masses of the first three planets in the Sirius Tau Star system.