By John Ballard
Vali Nasr is professor of international politics at Tufts University's Fletcher School and author of The Rise of Islamic Capitalism: Why the New Muslim Middle Class Is the Key to Defeating Extremism.
This half hour talk is worth that much of your weekend time. It was followed by an hour and a half Q&A session, also highly recommended. His article in FP Magazine is a quick read.
By now it should be clear to all thinking people that terrorism of the AQ variety will not be defeated by military means. Counterinsurgency is an interesting concept and I'm sure makes significant contributions to both job** security and economic** security for many Americans. Unfortunately it turns out to be a dismal failure when measured against its stated goal, the defeat of insurgent groups in populations among whom they live, whether in Iraq or Afghanistan. The tolls of human suffering, cultural destruction and blistering public relations failure make the price of any positive results far too costly.
The defeat of terrorist extremism will ultimately come not from military actions but middle class values which reach more people more effectively than any counterinsurgency, no matter how well executed. And it will come from the Muslim world, not the non-Muslim world. Dr. Nasr argues persuasively that the key to success lies in the growth and development of a vigorous business economy which gives rise to a real middle class.
?**Job security is when you work. Economic security is when you have income without working. They are not only different, but in many cases have little or nothing to do with national security. Counter-terrorism (another term for counterinsurgency) is becoming an academic growth industry.
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