Quote Originally Posted by Boohugh View Post
The West's fear is indeed staggering, but I personally don't believe it to be entirely unfounded. You are right that a wave of extremist Islamic states in that region would stuggle to pose any sort of military threat to us, but it isn't the threat of violence or conflict that we should be afraid of.

The simple fact is, in the world today, our way of life is intrinsically linked with stability all around the world. Wealth always has been, currently is, and always will be created on the basis of trading stability. If we want to preserve our way of life, we need to preserve that stability as much as possible. North Africa and the Middle East are important not just because of oil but also because a huge amount of trade passes through the region. Make no mistake, if that region of the world erupts into a series of hostile, unstable states (either to us or each other), it will have consequences for you and me sitting pretty in our Western citadel.

Edit: Just want to add I don't think military intervention is the best way to achieve this, far from it, but I also don't think a policy of sitting back and just saying "ooh, don't do that please" is the way ahead either.
Even if the entire Maghreb, Middle East and Central Asia tumbled into some kind of Caliphate the place would still struggle economically it would tumble in a few years too.