The Least Covered but Most Crucial Flow: People

Remember that the four flows must be kept in balance, meaning none can be shut off to accommodate the needs of any other:

• Security from Core to Gap
• Energy from Gap to Core
• FDI from Old Core to New Core
• People from Gap to Core

The aspect most vulnerable to disruption of the flow of People in this Global War on Terrorism is clearly immigration, or the human firewall the Core will be sorely tempted to throw up between itself and that ìinsaneî Gap filled with suicide bombers.

Take for example the March 29th Wall Street Journal story entitled, ìNew Breed of Islamic Warrior is Emerging: Evidence in Madrid Attack Points to Takfiris, Who Use Immigration as a Weapon.î

Here are the key excerpts:

ì These Islamist warriorsóschooled in the North African doctrine known as Takfir wal Hijra and trained by Afghan veterans of al Qaedaóthink, recruit and operate differently from traditional Islamist networks. For Europe, that makes the threat particularly acute. The Takfir movement is strongest in Morocco and Algeria, the primary sources of Muslim immigration to Western Europe. Takfiri theorists openly advocate using immigration as a Trojan horse to expand jihad, or holy war.î

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As Osama bin Ladenís control over terror networks has been disrupted, new radicals operate at the fringes of his movement. Many of his core beliefs, especially his anti-American animus, are being superceded by broader interpretations of global jihad. Instead of just apostate Muslim regimes or U.S. interests, jihad is being expanded to include virtually everyone outside the sect.

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Immigration is a key way to extend the radical ideas into Western Europe. One Takfiri scholar, Abu Basir, wrote in 2001 that ëjihad and immigration go together . . . the one cannot be achieved without the other.íí

The global war on terrorism is the truly asymmetrical war, meaning our enemies use our strengthsóour connectivityóas weapons against us. To give up that connectivity is to surrender preemptively, but clearly rule-set resets are in order. Keeping our societies and economies open doesnít mean we have to remain tragically naÔve.

But the challenge will be a tough one: how to make sure the immigration flows that need to occur from Gap to Core actually unfold over the years while simultaneously weeding out those who wish to do us harm andóultimatelyóto divide globalization into a series of isolated civilizations.