I believe that traditionally with these kind of gender imbalances two things happened. First they go looking to their neighbors for female companionship for their excess male population. Russia, Korea, Japan, India might want to keep the porch light on at night. Being that the neighbors seldom willingly hand over their women, that leads to a significant reduction of the aforesaid excess male population. Two birds with one stone you could call it.

And the "freedom" I enjoy is best encapsulated in the words of the classic song: "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."

I too enjoy that definition of freedom. I remember reading an interesting article about half a dozen years ago that talked about Iraqis not fully understanding the meaning of freedom. There were instances of people driving the wrong way on streets and ignoring traffic signs while under the impression that they were expressing their freedom. I really liked a definition of freedom that Obama stated to the to the Egyptian people. He said that in a democracy everyone has a voice. I thought that definition was the most crucial one I've heard for a country that is struggling to be a democracy.

Guess they never interacted with Coptic Christians before, either.

Must suck to be them.

I've pondered on the whole Islam/women thing for some time and this is the best I can come up with.

Arab Islam is still a tribal/clan based society. Nationalism means nothing to those not in the elite; instead, all loyalty is to the clan/tribe and all actions must further the existence of the clan/tribe.

In such societies, accustomed to moving long distances over harsh terrain, the singular commandment over time has distilled to "protect the breeders". If a clan/tribe cannot replenish its own population through the women it owns, or cannot steal women from another clan/tribe, it is dead.

While the men carry mobile phones and post YouTube videos these days, that essential commandment of clan/tribe life has never left them. Secure the breeders.

It is this specific atavistic need for tribes to protect their breeding stock that explains all of the violence rained down on those women who seek partners outside the tribe.

The only way to break this mess is to somehow stop Arab tribalism. On that, I'll simply say: Good Luck.

One of the best things we've done in Iraq and Afghanistan is in educating and protecting and advancing women, as that quite possibly could do more to improve the future of those nations.

I want to make clear I am not defending Saddam Hussein, especially his human rights record. But it should be pointed out that women in Iraq have always had more rights than most of it's neighbors.

So. What are the chances of the Chinese and the Muslims meeting somewhere in Central Asia, and taking care of both their problems. If the casualty rate is high enough, it might mean peace on Earth for generations.

Great post, Jay Tea!

"..the better the conditions are for women in a country or region or culture, the better it is generally for everyone."

Some feminists have been stressing this for many years. And non feminists and experts in foreign policy, too. Back when Clinton was President many of us tried to lead a movement to support the women Afghanistan who were being stuffed into burkas, because the oppression of women is the canary in the coal mine. Step one in creating a country that supports terrorism is to oppress the women. Our concerns fell on deaf ears. Laura bush, heck even George Bush understood this principle and focused on gender equality in our war on terrorism. Remember the "W is for Women" slogans and all of Laura's work for women's rights in the ME? I'm not even a fan of the Bush's but they got that right. I can't tell you how outraged I was to read this from a senior official in the current administration:

"Gender issues are going to have to take a back seat to other priorities," said the senior official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal policy deliberations. "There's no way we can be successful if we maintain every special interest and pet project. All those pet rocks in our rucksack were taking us down."

Women are half the human race. It's simple logic and common sense to realize that if somebody's ideology and agenda requires them to silence and oppress half the human race, what they're engaged in is not going to be healthy for anybody.

I've read that the younger Chinese population has fifty million more men than women. Part of it is the One Child Policy where any extra children are murdered (in the rural part of the country, drowning the baby is common) and part of it is that male children take care of the parents in their old age and married children take care of their in-laws. I think that China is going to get old before they get rich but expect them to invade someone before that happens (my guess is Russia; Siberia has lots of resources China needs).

You leave out the option of them all having a gay all time. That's what tends to happen in nature.

Talking about Muslims, three cheers for James O'Keefe. And to think that some here dismissed him after his failed misfire last time. O'Keefe has done more for conservatives than the whole community of this blog combined, even if we had several lifetimes.

Jay, you might enjoy J. Neil Schulman's novel The Rainbow Cadenza. It's set in a world that has a large sexual imbalance due to fetal selection in favor of boys. On top of that, it's been "scientifically proven" that the underlying cause of wars is men not getting laid often enough. The logical result? Young women are drafted into three years of national service, for the Greater Good of Society. The draftees don't wear uniforms ...

Jay Tea,

Great post; economically and socially, the vast majority of the Middle East (including Persia) hasn't evolved past the 7th Century. My take: look what happened when just one 26 year old man, a college graduate and bachelor in Algeria, who in utter despair and anguish about the actions of his government taking away his only livelihood (they confiscated his vegetable vending cart) - poured gasoline on himself in a local bazaar... and then struck a match.

Now the whole region is aflame.

Millions and millions of young men (and women) see that they have no jobs, opportunity, future, or even a chance at a better life. But they have access to the internet (or know someone who does), and see for themselves the picture, and hear the story of the individual who sacrificed himself in a market place in Algeria. How do you think they feel about that? Or the Google-Earth images being passed around Bahrain, which shows the ruling elite living behind their walled palatial estates in unimaginable opulence - compared to their squalor. How would you feel? Imagine what the images of President Hussein Barrack Obama (who he even has a name like them) represents, compared to their own ruling-for-life dictators. I'm not even sure outrage, indignation, and anger are adequate words to even begin to quantify it.

I believe a once-in-a-millennium change is sweeping the Middle East. The ensuing conflagration will consume the entire region... and the tinder all got started with just one young man's desperate spark.

Semper Fidelis-

Jay Tea,

To correct my comments and provide further amplification. Of course our President's name is: Barrack Hussein Obama. The young man who immolated himself in protest at the local bazaar was a Tunisian, not an Algerian. He had a family, and his name was Mohamed Bouazizi.

Semper Fidelis-

A wise old friend saw this problem coming years ago, but he expressed not as a surplus of men, but as a shortage of women.

That's always a problem. Not only do too many men have to go without mates, but how on earth will we actually FIND anything? It's the women who know where stuff is.

I read this about China and India too about the coming shortage of women...and the threat of young men with nothing to civilize them...years ago. It speaks of big trouble. It is their culture that is doing this....but I thought all cultures were equal??? Guess Not!
I think cavemen had better behavior toward women than Muslim men.

Don't give up hope. Took me until the age of 46 to meet the woman I married. It was totally a God-thing. Keep your eyes--but more importantly, your heart and Bible--open.

always a man with multiple wives, never a woman with multiple husbands (it would cause confusion about ownership, I guess)

[sarcasm] Maybe we just need to teach them about timeshares. [/sarcasm]

This writer is just one more man who has internalized several decades of feminist anti-male propaganda.

Self hate, anyone?

Try making some wildly negative generalizations about women for a change. At least it would be less predictable than this tired crap.

Most women are clearly out for themselves at this point so it's time we men did the same.