Roots of Terrorism and Peace

Walter, thank you for taking time to share your perspectives.   Sadly, we have the 9/11 catastrophe that continues to haunt folks here.  Twice as many Americans died on 9/11 than at Pearl Harbor in 1941.  So, it is reasonable to know who is here.  Canada has done a good job, to date, except for the recent killing at the tomb of the unknowns in Ottawa, and the FLQ crisis of 1971, in keeping track of potential terrorism.  My view is, they are over here, because we are over there.  I grew up in a family with classic American Isolationist roots.  We will do business with you, but we want no foreign entanglements as George Washington advised in his now-forgotten Farewell Address.  Our oil wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, plus the Zionist lobby here, have embroiled us in the affairs of others, when there is oil in Alberta. 

What we are seeing is a return to "tribalism" and end of the Enlightenment's hope for a cosmopolitan world.  I just finished reading Robert Kagan's book The Return of History and the End of Dreams, published in 2009,  in which Kagan, who works for the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, argues this point.  I think it is safe to say that recent events in Europe align with Kagan's prediction, futuristic forecasting.  Of course, the mass media engages in drama to sell advertising, and this, in turn, leads to demagoguery, as you observe.  I want to be fair, but fear, fear of terrorism, can, and, sadly, is undermining fair, because terrorism is real and creates real fear, its goal.  There, those are my thoughts.  Hopefully the USA will return to its Isolationist roots and stop sowing the seeds of our own destruction.  Take care, and thank you for your honest sharing, again.  Paul