Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Fighting the War on Terror... Endless War on Barbarism

Re(1): 'A Matter for Debate', The Belmont Club, Wretchard

Wretchard simply asks us three questions (read the post). The first is to identify the enemy. Is it really A War on Terror? Here is my 2 cents:

Enemy Identification: Barbarians

Great Powers through the ages have had to compete and win against the forces of barbarism. We just don't want to call it what it is. What else do you call:
  1. "I believe the underlying cause of the War lies in the breakdown of the Third World, as manifested in the multiplication of failing states"
  2. "other authors have preferred to describe today's troubles in terms of the Core and the Gap"
  3. "consequence of the transition to a world of Market States"

Barbarians are stateless beings. No culture. No civilization. And, nothing to lose but their personal existence. Rootless and non-deteralble.

That is why this differs from WWII and the Cold War - but, other similarities (autocracy, centralized control, aggression, and minimal concern of the individual) exist in spades.

It is simply our turn to deal with the barbarians of our saeculum.

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