"They" will return to their desert: vicious, soulless, fruitless ghosts of a gloomy past
Curiously the collapse of the Soviets was the beginning of the end of Western democracy. It's not so surprising.
Whether we like it or not, human societies traditionally have identified themselves according to a simple principle: "We and They."
The presence of a strong and dangerous enemy facilitates the unity of a society, the formation of its spiritual values and prosperity. It happened in Athens during the wars with Persia and in Rome during the confrontation with Carthage. The republican values of the Romans reached their highest peak—they disappeared when the external enemy was crushed, and Rome carried on to larceny and ruthless conquests.
We’ve witnessed the same course of action in the USA and in the West in general. It’s only in the face of the "Red Scare" that the democratic ideals of American society and its cohesion were extremely strong. Differences in the approach of the Democrats and Republicans basically disappeared: John Kennedy was as resolute as Johnson or Reagan in his willingness to confront the Soviets. And even Carter—a "soft-bodied" hypocrite—was forced to respond to the Kremlin’s aggression in Afghanistan, rallying the nation.
But the great and bitter paradox of our time is that the deadly threat not only disappeared but has become much more real. The new threat, Islam, is much more dangerous and poisonous than Soviet power and the Red Army with its tank armada. Eventually Soviet Communism was the product of Western itself, a continuation of Utopian communism, but Islam is alien and absolutely incompatible with Western values. Its main and supreme task is to destroy the West and include it in its future Caliphate. It's not about Iran or IGIL—it’s about Islam as a political-theological system. Their leaders, political and spiritual, don't conceal their aim at all. Hear them: Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, the main preacher of "Muslim brothers": "Constantinople was conquered in 1453 by a 23-year-old Ottoman named Muhammad ibn Murad, whom we call Muhammad the Conqueror. Now what remains is to conquer Rome". Erdogan ("big friend" of all American presidents): there is no Moderate Islam. Dr. Subhi Al-Yaziji, dean of Koranic studies at the Islamic University of Gaza: "Conquer Andalusia and the Vatican" after Palestine.
"The Qur'an is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader, Jihad is our path and death in the name of Allah is our goal." It's Mohamed Morsi, supported by Obama. Believe them, they don't lie!
The principle "We and They" didn't disappear. However the main task of us is not to defeat "them" but to find ourselves. If "we" would be able to do it, "they" will have no chance. "They" will return to their desert: vicious, soulless, fruitless ghosts of a gloomy past. And vice-versa: the society of "substantial emptiness" will be inevitably subjugated by the Caliphate.
Author of "Agony of Hercules or a Farewell to Democracy (Notes of a Stranger)", Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.