Welfare - the Grand Terrorism Deterrent according to Bulgaria's Finance Minister

Bulgarian Finance Minister Simeon Djankov has argued that the most powerful tool to fight terrorism is to ensure good education, good healthcare and equal opportunities for the population.

"When you take a look at the profiles of terrorists across the world, you can see that they are people lacking career opportunities, not so much people driven by religious divides", Djankov declared in a TV show over the weekend.

While it is true that acts of terror can be used to call attention to political and social causes and that by providing welfare a state supposedly boosts national security, it is not true that terrorists are academic and career underachievers.

Going by Djankov's words and by Bulgaria's unemployment statistics, the country should have long turned into a terror nest, which it is not.

To be a terrorist, however, the very least you need to have is a political/religious/ideological commitment.

To have that, you need to have had a proper education, which enabled you to tell ideas apart and pick your side.

What you also need is a blind and passionate belief in the power of mass destruction.

And a host of reliable and equally well-educated operatives.

Discontent Bulgarians, on the other hand,  most often turn passive-aggressive.

Or resort to hate speech in hate newspapers.

Or opt for football hooliganism.

The habit of staging organized protests for a cause has long gone out the window.

Which, fortunately, makes it highly unlikely for the country to turn into a breeding ground for terrorists.

At the same time, it does not diminish the importance of bridging social and economic divides.

Scare tactics deployed for budget redistribution purposes is totally uncalled-for.

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