04-02-2010, 08:54 PM
Quote:Hi,
Yes, but this is getting far out of context. My statement was in reply to, "The day that we are not dependent on oil anymore will be the day that the middle east will start to try to modernize and get rid of muslim extremism." That is the connection I fail to see -- that somehow cutting off oil revenue will modernize the Middle East and end Muslim extremism.
--Pete
It especially doesn't make sense in-so-far as the self described main cause for violent Muslim extremism (as far as the leaders of Al Qaeda have reported) is the modernization of the Middle East. If you want to understand groups such as Al Qaeda and their motivations it's not difficult to find examples. They have repeatedly said that their main enemy is not America or the West but moderate and modernizing Muslim states. This isn't unique to Muslims either. Any fundamentalist ideology is more threatened by the "liberalization" of their own society or country than of outside factions. You don't see Christian fundamentalists in America planning attacks on Iran you see them assassinating abortion doctors and planning to kill cops here in their homeland.