From: Wim Nusselder (wim.nusselder@antenna.nl)
Date: Mon Dec 06 2004 - 14:08:59 GMT
Dear Platt,
I hoped Sam would also feel called to reply to my comments (23 Nov 2004
08:30:46 +0100) on the Dutch experience with tolerance and the need for
intolerance of intolerance. He asked for them first, after all. But he
doesn't seem to be inspired.
You replied 24 Nov 2004 09:12:49 -0500:
'I disagree ... with your proposed solution to the general problem of
accommodating radical Muslim goals to the values of Western civilization.
... In essence this approach seems to be little more than giving into
blackmail, i.e., the tactic of employing biological violence or the threat
of violence to obtain the product of another's work, livelihood and
well-being. It amounts to knuckling under to terrorist demands, a policy
doomed to breed more terrorism specifically, and encourage more crime
generally.'
No, I didn't propose to give in to terrorism, i.e. to let them change Dutch
society into something like Afghanistan under the Taliban. I proposed to
give them something they didn't ask for: a social security system and a
welfare state, if necessary on a global level. Decent respected middle-class
life may be more tempting than an uncertain harem of houris in heaven. Offer
them the American Way of Life, if you want, but make sure that it is
attainable for them. So don't limit e.g. import of textiles from Pakistan,
leaving workless textile workers no solace but radical Koran schools.
And what's wrong with developing towards a global constitutional state (with
checks and balances, of course) in which humanitarian intervention backed by
the UN Security Council and/or Global Court of Justice develops into a kind
of global (instead of national) security system? That's certainly not what
rogues like Sadam Hussein, the Iranian ayatollahs and North-Korean Kim
Jong-Il were/are blackmailing us for... There's no alternative for it
really. Iraq could be conquered (but not pacified) by an almost unilateral
war effort. Iran and Noth-Korea are a size too big ever for a superpower
like the US to do so. To really pacify even weaker countries like Iraq and
Afghanistan you need a carrot (global welfare state) as well as a stick
(military capacity/global police force).
With friendly greetings,
Wim
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