Israel
Give the Palestinians and Israelis more protection from each other. Let some foreign countries put peacekeepers in Palestinian areas to stop rocket attacks or the like against Israel, but also to stop Israel from knocking over private homes or blowing up police stations whenever they feel like it.
The Iranian Bomb
Iran is the Great Persia, with 70,000,000 people and a significant civilization. When negotiating with them, realize that their ancestors ruled most of the known world (notice their names in the Bible) and were among the wealthiest and most advanced of nations. When speaking about Iran or negotiating with them, be respectful! They believe they have as much right to things as anyone else, so we should be ASKING them to refrain from going nuclear.
Islamic Extremism
Islam is big and is here to stay. A percentage of its followers are dangerous, as one would expect (this could be true of almost any human organization or religion). Obviously, we need to protect ourselves from the dangerous ones! But we also have to consider their greviances. Colonial mistreatment, support for evil dictators during the cold war, verbal offences, cultural offences and so forth. Consider this cultural offence: during the war in Iraq, when homes had to be entered, men were often bound with plastic ties. This was done IN FRONT OF their family, which, I think, was a mortal offence. Do things like this if you want to create children willing to blow themselves up!
The Population Implosion
People = prosperity, production, power. All of these things can be misused, but a lack of any of them can cause hardship or worse. Japan and many countries are going through bad economic times due to a dearth of people, particularly in the ratio of young to old. People are a most incredible and valuable resource. Some of the most prosperous and civilized places on earth were so BECAUSE they had the highest populations and population densities (such as Europe in 1700 to 1900, the USA from 1850 or so onwards, Japan, China in recent years, India in the future, and so on). High population can be a burden if the economy or other circumstances are adverse. Countries in Africa that are run by strong men dictators who ravage their own economy and are unable or unwilling to stop corruption are going to have high suffering along with their high populations. Countries with little food or water may suffer greatly due to high populations.
Climate Change
Get them to prove that man is changing the environment globably and how. Meanwhile, it makes sense to me to try to limit carbon dioxide emissions in the meantime, but not severely.
Gross Imprisonment
People are being locked away in massive numbers, but the locking away does not "fix" the perpetrators and the punishment is often excessive. Imprisonment as a punishment is often too harsh because of its extreme consequences. Flog a man for 5 minutes and he can be back to work within weeks. Imprison him for a year and he comes out a professional criminal with criminal contacts, possible no other support network, possibly not employable, possibly resourceless and homeless, and so on. People ruined by prison often don't mind prison anymore, since they are so ruined for the real world, so they no longer feel deterred. Prison tortures the mind and soul by convincing people, correctly, that no one loves them or cares about their welfare. Try spending ONE NIGHT in a cell and see how unloved you feel. People who feel rejected find it easier to abuse others. Also, prison as currectly designed ignores the need of the victim and perpetrator for restitution. Helping a perpetrator to work and make restitution would do more to deter crime and improve the mindset of criminals than any amount of imprisonment.
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