Robert Wright honestly admits that he was wrong when he blamed terrorism on "poverty in the Islamic world", and goes on to promote free trade. But his next article in the series hedges it around with all kinds of counterproductive safety nets, because many people in changing societies are afraid of being left behind.

Meanwhile, Michael Gove reminds us that

No Arab nation is a democracy, none enjoys a free press or speech. None can guarantee basic human rights, whether it be respect for property, life or conscience. Whether they are oil-rich or resource poor, they prefer to keep their people in ignorance and poverty.

And he points his finger particularly at Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The joint hostility of Baghdad and Tehran to the US is not a consequence of America�s military presence or diplomatic policies in the Middle East. It is a basic defining feature of tyranny. Totalitarian regimes which govern in the name of a political religion require an enemy; to maintain their supporters in a state of fervour, to provide a scapegoat for the failure of their rule to deliver improvements in living conditions, and, above all, to legitimise internal repression.

The hostility which these regimes, and the terrorists they sponsor, feel towards the West is existential. It cannot be assuaged by more international aid, a reordering of the world financial system, a new peace plan for the Palestinians, the signing of the Kyoto treaty or any other of the panaceas for soothing away world tension peddled by the new Left or old Arabists. As with Nazis and the Communists, they hate us for what we are, not what we do.

(via Glenn Reynolds)