Suppressed not just by their leaders. Suppressed by people in their own communities and rejected by people in their adopted countries. Whether its opressing women or curtailing free speech, several Arab countries are fertile grounds for breeding extremism among a section of society without a doubt. BUT, as the London bombings and the recent foiled plots have highlighted, the lack of assimilation into their adopted societies is the crucial factor in breeding the kind of extremism we have seen of late. Assimilation is a two way street - you have to be willing to assimilate but at the same time you need to be treated with dignity in the host country. Unfortunately, a lot of young people in countries like England and France feel alienated from the mainstream culture of the country they were born into. Even if you had peace in the Middle East, I doubt Muslim extremism will cease in Western Europe as long as a large pool of people feel so far out from the mainstream.