James Traub Quotes
Terrorism is only a problem in failed states with significant Muslim populations.
While that tended to be so at that time, it has not always been so. For example, the civil war in Sri Lanka where suicide bombing vests were developed pitted Sinhalese Buddhists against Tamil Hindus. The 10 percent Muslim population were the only ones who were peaceful. And the PKK in Turkey—although a Muslim terrorist movement operated in a very strong and modern state.
James Traub, Journalist, Writer & Commentator, “Think Again: Failed States”, Foreign Affairs, July / August 2011
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Tunisia, although it has a large majority Muslim population, became a secular republic after its Arab Spring revolution.
He was out of office when he made this statement.
The column was written in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist murder of hundreds of school children and adults in Russia. The newspaper was the largest Arab newspaper in the world.
The militant Muslim Fundamentalists with funds from Saudi Arabia created a series of madrassas schools throughout Pakistan; these provided not only a free education but food and often health care as well—in a country where the government did little for the average person. The militants employed gun runners and other smugglers, terrorists, money launderers, printers and publishers, and people in all walks of life.
James Traub (born 1954) is an American journalist. He is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, where he has worked since 1998. From 1994 to 1997, he was a staff writer for The New Yorker. He has also written for The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic Monthly, National Review and Foreign Affairs. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.