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Re: Should the US Raise Security Threat to the Nation at its Highest Level for Sept 2
Its not on fire? Hows Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, looking? Now Libya, Mali, Ivory Coast, Somalia, and the rest of Central Africa looking? Now hows things working out with the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan and China? Which says nothing about Russia and the Ukraine or any there getting involved. Nor Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Moreover just because Egypt and Pakistan have had issues for years. Doesn't mean they don't play into all the other conflicts arising or that have arisen. Which this doesn't even Count the Palestinians and Israel.
Also AQ is not beaten down. Their numbers have increased and so have their attacks. Which this doesn't count Ansar al Sharia which has spread from Yemen to Libya. Nor does it count Boko Haram in Nigeria and the Surrounding region.
It's hardly on fire.
Pakistan and Egypt have had issues for years, nothing new there. Al Qaeda is pretty throughly beaten down (though we should note that terrorism is a technique rather than an organization, and "eliminating terrorism" is as foolish as "eliminating guerrilla warfare.")
Conflicts in many parts of the world have actually calmed down lately -- e.g. there's far less conflict in most of Central and South America these, mostly due to quasi- and ex-Marxist insurgencies giving up. Southeast Asia and the Himalayas are generally quite calm, e.g. Nepal's Maoist insurgency is far less active than in previous years; the government of Myanmar/Burma is slowly relaxing its totalitarian grip; separatist insurgents in Thailand are still active, but engaged in peace talks. Morocco's conflicts have calmed down; Tunisia seems to be doing fairly well; Algeria is generally stable. Israeli-Palestinian talks are continuing, and the latest conflict was actually pretty short. Russia attacking Crimea and the Ukraine isn't much different than their invasion of Chechnya (remember that?).
It only seems like "everything is getting worse!" if you fail to pay attention to the various successes and improvements, and assume that every bad event around a very large and very populated world is the Worst Thing Ever.
I would.
Almost all of the 9/11 hijackers entered the US on travel or business visas. Students who fly to the US will face the same level of scrutiny as anyone else. The student visa program does need tightening up, but it's not an existential threat to the US. Neither is ISIL/ISIS, which is kind of busy trying to consolidate its holdings and actually manage (and cruelly dominate) an actual state, and is also getting bombed by the US and attacked by the Kurds. And who knows what the NSA is doing?
Granted, it's not smart to bury one's head in the ground and act like everything is just fine. At the same time, reacting with too much fear to the conditions of the world results in an equally negative overreaction. E.g. it wastes resources, it can turn our attention away from more critical vulnerabilities, and can inure the public to warnings of threats.
Its not on fire? Hows Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, looking? Now Libya, Mali, Ivory Coast, Somalia, and the rest of Central Africa looking? Now hows things working out with the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan and China? Which says nothing about Russia and the Ukraine or any there getting involved. Nor Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Moreover just because Egypt and Pakistan have had issues for years. Doesn't mean they don't play into all the other conflicts arising or that have arisen. Which this doesn't even Count the Palestinians and Israel.
Also AQ is not beaten down. Their numbers have increased and so have their attacks. Which this doesn't count Ansar al Sharia which has spread from Yemen to Libya. Nor does it count Boko Haram in Nigeria and the Surrounding region.