End ‘anoikis’ in Middle East to win the war on terror

Hernando de Soto wonders how long it will take the West to remember that democratic capitalism requires strong property rights to set clear boundaries beyond which the state may not go? Without them, the situation in the Middle East will remain volatile for years to come

It’s been 14 years since US president George W. Bush declared a “global war on terror.”

Today, after spending $1.6trn (€1.46trn) on that war and killing 101 terrorist chieftains, from Osama bin Laden to ‘Jihadi John’, the West remains just as vulnerable, if not more so, to extremists who can recruit fighters and strike any Western capital virtually at will.