This is important because no development strategy can be based only upon what comes out of the ground, nor can it be sustained while young people are out of work. Many Gulf States have enjoyed great wealth as a consequence of oil, and some are beginning to focus it on broader development. But all of us must recognize that education and innovation will be the currency of the 21st century, and in too many Muslim communities there remains underinvestment in these areas. I am emphasizing such investments within my country. And while America in the past has focused on oil and gas in this part of the world, we now seek a broader engagement.
On education, we will expand exchange programs, and increase scholarships, like the one that brought my father to America, while encouraging more Americans to study in Muslim communities. And we will match promising Muslim students with internships in America; invest in on-line learning for teachers and children around the world; and create a new online network, so a teenager in Kansas can communicate instantly with a teenager in Cairo.
President Barrak Hussein Obama, in Cairo, June 2009
Poster Comment:
We're talking about a slim movement from Zionism toward multiculturalism. We will be doing this at the expense of tax dollars, and (possibly) more immigration slots allotted to Muslims. We will definitely be seeing more cultural exchanges with Muslims.
I'm positive about cultural exchanges with the Islamic world. I'm also positive about them having access to our media and we to theirs. I'm also comfortable with a small amount of Islamic immigration. However, I'm for limiting immigration across the board, so I'm unfriendly to this. After pulling our troops home and liberalizing our centrally planned economy, I would rank lowering immigration as one of my most important issues. Obama will not be doing that. The combative rhetoric is subsiding, and now we are seeing the quickening of the ethnic/cultural sea change at home.
I sense that this is part of a tug of war between different factions, much as randge has said. We, the more traditional American peoples, continue to lose ground in many ways as these conflicts are played out. There are some good aspects, so not all is lost. We'll just have to see.
It's going to be an even more multicultural America. It can work. It might take a police state to keep it together, though.