The new argument, which Piketty spelled out recently in the French newspaper Le Monde, is this: Inequality is a major driver of Middle Eastern terrorism, including the Islamic State attacks on Paris earlier this month — and Western nations have themselves largely to blame for that inequality.…
Piketty is particularly scathing when he blames the inequality of the region, and the persistence of oil monarchies that perpetuate it, on the West…
The argument has not gained much notice in the United States thus far.…
The Washington Post — Wonkblog
This might be the most controversial theory for what’s behind the rise of ISIS
Jim Tankersley
See also
This might be the most controversial theory for what’s behind the rise of ISIS
Jim Tankersley
See also
On the front lines of the battle against the Islamic State, suspicion of the United States runs deep. Iraqi fighters say they have all seen the videos purportedly showing U.S. helicopters airdropping weapons to the militants, and many claim they have friends and relatives who have witnessed similar instances of collusion.
Ordinary people also have seen the videos, heard the stories and reached the same conclusion — one that might seem absurd to Americans but is widely believed among Iraqis — that the United States is supporting the Islamic State for a variety of pernicious reasons that have to do with asserting U.S. control over Iraq, the wider Middle East and, perhaps, its oil.
Inequality correlates to nearly every social problem, as Richard Wilkinson has so excellently documented.
ReplyDeleteTrump now on Alex Jones Show today both making the same case:
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/FJqLAleEnKw
OFC it is, but not inequality per se: massive youth unemployment, massive poverty, etc. Most ISIS "recruits" are people who have been deprived of any means of subsitence after 5 years of devastating civil war, ISIS provides a 'social safety net' to the recruits that is well documented by now.
ReplyDeleteInequality is just symptom of the disease.
Sad to see Picketty repeating that tired old PC refrain: “It’s all white man’s fault”. I suggest the West / white man couldn’t care less what sort of regime they have in Saudi and elsewhere in the Gulf, long as the Gulf countries continue to supply the West with oil.
ReplyDeleteIf the Saudis have a peaceful transition to a highly egalitarian communist regime, why should we care?
@Ralph, Iran tried forming a highly egalitarian socialist government and the CIA shut it down in 1953.
ReplyDelete