Terrorism

This is a complex topic with no easy answer.  I suppose it is good that most populations expect their government to protect them from terrorism even when it is an unrealistic expectation that a government can protect 100% of the people from 100% of the terrorism.  With that expectation, governments must work hard to achieve that and realize that there is a price to be paid for failure, and by working hard to achieve 100% they will achieve a higher percentage than they would have if they were not trying to achieve 100%.

But in a free society, how do you protect the people?  Well, for one thing, you have to access the best in technology to try and uncover communications that will lead you to hidden terrorists, whether they are home grown or externally grown.  I am not bothered that the NSA can access phone numbers I dial or emails I write or read this blog.  This is where I disagree with libertarian types who fear the government's access to this type of stuff.  If you are plotting something, you give up your right to privacy.

And the world has to have effective governments in every place so there is order in every place.  Bad things happen when there is disorder.  But maintaining order cannot be the sole responsibility of the U.S.A.  It is a responsibility of the U.S.A. and every other government.  So when there is an area of land that is ungoverned, every responsible government has an obligation to work diplomatically (and militarily if diplomacy fails) to insure that ungoverned land is governed, because only with governance do you get order.

The unfortunate truth is that anarchists/terrorists have some screw lose in their head that all they want to do is make a statement and murder people in order to make that statement.  And if they are determined and don't make a mistake, there is not one government out there that can protect 100% of its citizens 100% of the time.

Given the turmoil in this world and the anger in the fringe elements of so many societies including the U.S.A., I am pleasantly surprised that there is not more terrorism.

Now what can be done.

Well, domestically, the GOP types that feed on saying Democrats are evil and Democrats who feed on saying the GOP is evil, need to realize that we are all on the same side and just want to live in a free prosperous country.  ObamaCare is not socialism and robbing people of freedom.  It was designed by The Heritage Foundation.  Acknowledging the right of people to practice whatever religion they choose is the core of this nation, as is immigration, and managing issues surrounding that is what we have a Congress and a Judicial system to do.  Disagreement in an orderly civilized nation should not be a reason to commit violent acts or use language that incites violence.

Globally, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Kuwait, the U.A.E., and Egypt need to have a serious discussion about how they are going to clean up the mess they have made reigniting the Sunni/Shia discord that has been 1000 years in the making.  The U.S. cannot do that for them.  ISIS, Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and Al Shabab cannot exist if some state is not funding them.  And Israel needs to be ready to accept an overture from those Islamic nations that if they curb their funding to Hezbollah and Hamas, if Israel will leave the West Bank and let the Palestinians govern themselves.

And the rest of the world including China, India, Japan, the E.U., Russia and the Americas need to keep the financial pressure on the Islamic Nations to find a solution for this mess.  The only issue these non-Democratic Arab nations understand is the power of the purse.  Their domestic agendas require enormous sums of money flowing from oil.  That is why Saudi Arabia is trying to bury the fracking and tar sand oil business by pushing the price of oil below their breakevens.  But the Developed World now has enough energy that we don't need the oil from the Middle East and now is the time to pressure those governments to cease funding and supporting these Islamic terrorist organizations.

The Developed World needs to unite and get on the same page.  Iran in particular is a master at exploiting division.  That will require diplomacy and not a knee jerk neoconservative let's just have the U.S. fix it.  For the U.S. to fix it, we would have to colonize the entire Islamic Middle East and govern it effectively until the Sunni and Shia's decided to get along.  And before they did that, they would unite to kill Americans soldiers.  The power of the purse is the only path to getting the Islamic Middle East to try and end the Sunni/Shia divide.

I know there is no evidence that my suggested path would work, but there has also not been a sustained real effort to move along such a path.