Alexander Maistrovoy: Self-Destruction of the West

Solomonia.com:

Alexander Maistrovoy: A Pinnacle of Self-Destruction

[This is a guest post by Russian-language Israeli journalist Alexander Maistrovoy.]

Can a tango of a murderer and a suicide be considered "The Clash of Civilizations"?

It is difficult to say the clash of which civilizations Samuel Huntington meant. Those who think he wrote about Islamic civilization on the one part and the West on the other part, make a mistake. There is no such conflict, it is inherently impossible. The events of recent decades show that the civilizations in question are far from clashing. On the contrary, they co-operate and complement one another.

Any conflict assumes that both parties have ideological oppositions, pride, courage, and desire to fight. If one of the parties has neither principles nor the will to resist, or at least aspires to survive, the conflict does not exist. There is a simple absorption of one civilization by another, a kind of submission or assault. The situation becomes even more hopeless if one of the parties not only obediently submits to an aggressor and tyrant, but meets the conqueror with readiness and enthusiasm.

Can there be a conflict between a sadist and a masochist; hatred and self-hatred; aggression and self-flagellation? Certainly not. Such pairs complement one another ideally.

It is difficult to find more hatred of the West than in the West itself. Listen and read what the representatives of the Western elite - academicians, novelists and show-business stars - say, and you will find no difference in their ideas and those of the leaders of Taliban or "Al Qaeda." Do the judgments of Tom Hayden differ from those of Mukdata al Sadr? Are Noam Chomsky or Susan Sontag different in their statements on the USA than Mullah Omar? Sean Penn hates America as strongly as the Islamists do.

"Plans are being made on the assumption that they may lead to the death of several million people. Very casually, with no comment and with no particular thought about it. It looks like what is happening is some sort of silent genocide..." This was said shortly after 9/11. By whom? Perhaps by Bin-Laden or Ayman Zawahiri? No, it was said by Noam Chomsky, a liberals' idol on both sides of the Atlantic. [Read the rest]

posted by: jrtelegraph