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I'm not trying to lay all of the blame on outside forces, but we shouldn't ignore the effect of historical and economic forces on the region. As always, subjects of such complexity do not lend themselves to simple explanations.
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I also believe that some of the trouble in the ME today can be in part be attributed to the ill-conceived partitioning of the land by Britain & France. This can be contrasted with Europe, which also has a majority single religion and relatively homogenous population.
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or: the clash of civilzations argument is a mechanisms for distancing, which is the political correlate of making individuals easier to kill.
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Maybe I'm misunderstanding this, but is it not true that Fundamentalist Islam in the M.E. have stated time and again the desire for a pure Islamic world by means of the destruction of the West? I don't know of any religious or military group in the West that promotes a Christian or Jewish world by means of the destruction of the Islamic world. I would argue that this scenario is not an abstract concept.
Regarding China, I couldn't agree more. 2 completely different societies managing to co-exist in peace.