Why is That?

Most of us have heard of the South Bronx (New York) or Compton (Los Angeles) or Liberty City (Miami) or Towson (Baltimore). These are but a few of the failed neighborhoods or districts in major cities where poverty, poor education, joblessness, and gang violence have destroyed much of the fabric of civil society. Many residents of these neighborhoods look at the police with sullen stares and do little to help them combat or investigate crime. Despite massive federal, state and local programs that have pumped hundreds of millions into these areas, their problems persist.

But have you heard of Molenbeek (Brussels) or Ca n’Anglada (Barcelona) or Marxloh and Neukölln (Germany) or Seine-Saint-Denis and Clichy-sous-Bois (France)? These are predominantly immigrant Muslim neighborhoods and districts where poverty, poor education, joblessness, and gang violence are endemic. Like their counterparts in North American cities, many residents of these neighborhoods look at the police with sullen stares and do little to help them combat or investigate crime. Worse, some of these European neighborhoods are "no-go" zones (despite protestations to the contrary by local politicians), where police no longer enter, and the prevailing law is Sharia.

Mike Gonzalez reports:

Though it’s too early to tell about the attack at Brussels on Tuesday, March 22, the Molenbeek neighborhood incubated the Paris attack. Ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud came from there. Several of the other terrorists, including Salah Abdeslam, had ties to the neighborhood, where Muslims make up more than half of the population and youth unemployment is high.

Molenbeek is hardly alone. Ca n’Anglada in Barcelona has also been identified as the origin of several ISIS fighters. Amin Iharchain, a 31-year-old Moroccan resident, told the newspaper El Pais that:

“radicalism has overwhelmed this quarter; neither the local Iman nor any of the 29 Muslim associations that registered will say anything. It’s not just here in Ca n’Anglada, but also in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Badalona … It is unemployment, poverty, the feeling of inferiority, all tied to a radical message.”

... Many of the refugees now coming into Europe as a result of the chaos in Mesopotamia will settle in neighborhoods such as these, where they can be radicalized. Already they contain radical networks that can be used by ISIS or other sponsors of terrorism.
Earlier last week, before the arrest, Heritage Foundation Vice President James Jay Carafano wrote presciently, “ISIS organizers are simply plugging into standing extremist communities. These networks are popping up all over the world … by far the most concerning networks right now are in Western Europe.”

The primary difference between a Molenbeek and a Liberty City isn't poverty or joblessness or even despair. It's not "feelings of inferiority." It's not the availability (or lack) of government money and programs that are supposed to help integrate the neighborhood's residents into the mainstream. Those characteristics are common to both, yet one becomes a breeding ground for terror while the other does not.

Why is that?

UPDATE - I:
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Barack Obama stated the obvious today when he announced at a news conference that "ISIS does not represent an existential threat" to the United States. He's right -- it doesn't.

But he's wrong when he narrows the focus to ISIS, just one of hundreds of radical Islamic groups that threaten Western security, Western commerce, Western economies, and the peace of mind of hundreds of millions of citizens in the West.

The problems within the Molenbeeks around the world have little to do with ISIS but everything to do with radical Islam and its influence on Muslims. Leaders like Obama obfuscate when they try to turn the focus away from Islam; they insult the intelligence of the populace when they tweet (as Hillary Clinton did a few months ago): "Let’s be clear: Islam is not our adversary. Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism."

Clinton's tweet represents delusional thinking, but it's right in line with the thinking of other Western leaders. If that kind of thinking continues, the threat of Islamic terror will grow and eventually, it may very well become an existential threat, not because of the power of Islamic terrorists, but because of the rank stupidity of Western leaders who are driven by political correctness instead of common sense.

UPDATE - II:
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Sohrab Ahmari writes:

Islamist terror struck at the heart of the European Union on Tuesday. Islamic State jihadists staged a triple-bombing in the Belgian capital—two at the Brussels airport and a third at a metro station downtown—that killed at least 30 people combined. It was the latest reminder that Islamic terrorism is now a permanent and ubiquitous hazard to life in every city, on every continent.

In coming days European authorities will level reproaches about the missed warning signs, security lapses and the larger failure to integrate Belgian Muslims. Commissions will be formed. Sympathetic memes will proliferate on social media. Je suis Belge.

This routine has become numbingly familiar. And these habitual responses, while understandable, defer a reckoning with a larger truth: Not a single day now goes by without an Islamist suicide bombing, rocket attack, shooting spree, kidnapping or stabbing somewhere in the world.

He goes on to recount the last 10 calender days of vicious Islamic terror attacks in North Africa, in Israel, ending with yesterdays Brussels attack.
This "larger truth" is what really matters, but our Western leaders prefer the myopic view that "missed warning signs, security lapses and the larger failure to integrate" disffected Muslims are to blame. Why is that?