I think the current situation is the result of doing way too much the the past decade (or two). If the US and EU stayed out of the Middle East (Iraq, Libya, Syria), the EU+ME part of the world would be a much more peaceful place.
Allow me to amend my comment slightly, and emphasise that I'm speaking of domestic policies.
Across Europe we've seen increased ghettofication, social segregation and religious extremism.
But because this has mostly been within demographic segments considered "weak" or "minorities", the explicit policy has consistently been sweeping things under the rug and proceeding as if nothing has been wrong.
And that has landed Europe where it is today.
Anyway. This is HN and I don't want to get more political than I need to. What bothers me the most is honestly the low status facts have in the politics of nations today, something I think should be a fairly incontroversial position.
100% agree....when you can sit and watch a debate or discussion on TV, and one side or the other, or both, are using arguments that are known to be factually incorrect, it's bound to not turn out well.
I think if we are going to accept immigration from anywhere, we should first figure out how to assimilate all cultures to prevent as you correctly note ghettofication, social segregation and religious extremism. The things we're seeing today might be small potatoes compared to what could happen if there's a mass uprising.
perhaps the fact that they are "weak" or "minorities" is the cause and not the consequence of the attacks... I mean, in a complex society causality goes in any direction.
I very much doubt that. Of course, there is no alternative reality where you could observe how things went when things were done differently, but there's no lack of violence in parts of the world where US and EU have not been doing things.
And of course you are neglecting that especially after WWII, Soviet Union did not exactly stay out of places, either. For instance, Afghanistan and Somalia, the two most notorious failed states in the world, were actually run under Soviet influence for a considerable time. Syria is still very much in the Russian sphere of influence. Etc.
