Western world getting lost with its strategic direction

It is the basic survival skills for a nation to correctly judge and determine the source and nature of a threat as well as its urgency in the present international politics.

The judgment of threats by any big power, either correct or erroneous, can decide the progress of history. As the setup of the current world politics is led primarily by the West, the judgment of Western powers, especially the United States and Europe, on the threat constitutes an issue of the strategic nature in the present era.

Unfortunately, the major Western powers have failed to reach a common understanding of what is the biggest threat confronting the contemporary world. The United States has been vacillating on this issue. It has designated terrorism as the main threat after the Sept. 11 attack in 2001. But the United States cannot tell what threat is terrorism and where it has come from.

Without any methods to make the correct judgment on threats, how can the correct choice of strategy be made. On this issue, it can be said that the United States and the whole Western world have ideological confusion and are losing their direction in strategy.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former US president security advisor and an ace US strategist, has acquired the most profound insight and far-sightedness on the strategy in the West. He enunciated this issue in his address to the American Atlantic Council not long ago. We got to a common view upon the birth of the Atlantic Council, he said, and we need such a consensus today. The Atlantic Charter signed by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill embodies the spirit of the Atlantic cooperation and unity. But President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair today have obviously not given the United States and Europe such a faith.

In the view of Brzezinski, the biggest challenge facing the West is the rise of extremism, which often occurs in the company of terrorism, and this is much tougher to deal with than any time in history.

The question is that the West today has doubts about its own civilization as well as its internal survival conditions. In an article of May 18 entitled "Stark Choice of Civilization in the West", the "Financial Times" maintained that six major ideas that led the West onto the road of success, namely Christianity, optimism, science, economic growth, individualism and liberalism, have all run into crisis. It is possible for the Western civilization, which has been led into a crossroad, to get disintegrated now, and the West is losing its confidence and strategic direction.
english.peopledaily.com.cn...

what you say?


[edit on 7-7-2006 by zhangxi0183]

Originally posted by zhangxi0183

It is the basic survival skills for a nation to correctly judge and determine the source and nature of a threat as well as its urgency in the present international politics.


Unfortunately, the major Western powers have failed to reach a common understanding of what is the biggest threat confronting the contemporary world. The United States has been vacillating on this issue.

Without any methods to make the correct judgment on threats, how can the correct choice of strategy be made. On this issue, it can be said that the United States and the whole Western world have ideological confusion and are losing their direction in strategy.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former US president security advisor and an ace US strategist, has acquired the most profound insight and far-sightedness on the strategy in the West. He enunciated this issue in his address to the American Atlantic Council not long ago.

In the view of Brzezinski, the biggest challenge facing the West is the rise of extremism, which often occurs in the company of terrorism, and this is much tougher to deal with than any time in history.

The question is that the West today has doubts about its own civilization as well as its internal survival conditions. In an article of May 18 entitled "Stark Choice of Civilization in the West", the "Financial Times" maintained that six major ideas that led the West onto the road of success, namely Christianity, optimism, science, economic growth, individualism and liberalism, have all run into crisis. It is possible for the Western civilization, which has been led into a crossroad, to get disintegrated now, and the West is losing its confidence and strategic direction.
english.peopledaily.com.cn...

what you say?


[edit on 7-7-2006 by zhangxi0183]

My 2 cents on this topic. The Western nations of Europe and America are in what I see as "free fall" liberalism, or "progressive" cultural barbarism. Let me explain, lets look at cultural degeneracy replacing morality and rule of law shall we?
Cultural Progressive Degeneracy: Code word for Liberalism run amok.
1. Homosexuality (good or bad?)
2. On demand Abortion
3.Illegal immigration
4.euthanasia rights
5."gay rights"
6.criminal rights(although finally most states now emphasize VICTIM rights)
7.voter rights (my opinion is not EVERYONE should be allowed to vote) an example is people on welfare (they'll just vote for the PIG who promises more public benefits) and no I'm not exaggerating.
8.animal rights (are animals equal to humans?)
9.feminism
10.activist judges (they're job is to enforce law not interpret)

I can think of alot more, but I'll hold there, Western nations are being destroyed from within, It's almost strange when you compare Islamic nations to the west, It leaves me wondering why they despise the west, because of our degeneracy or cause they"re just insane, probably both.
and this Zbrinski fool is a Elite Insider, don't take his word for nothing.

That's simple:

It comes from the fact that islamic culture is in crisis because it has reached a crossroads.

The old Ottoman Empire and Indian Islamist states created a culture that was very stable; but they've been in crisis since 1800, when the western world begans re-asserting itself as the global center-of-gravity (as noted in the article).

Between 1800 and 1918, every islamist state was overwhelmed by a western colonial power, or made a client state. In order to achieve a meaningful role in the world Islamic communities must make two sets of choices:

First choice: To modernize, or not to modernize.

Will the community accept the presence of western technology, such as the internet, air travel, cell phones and DVD players? Some states have refused, such as Yemen and the Taliban government of Afghanistan. While the leadership makes use of modern military equipment, things like satelite TV are considered dangerous tools of the American Satan. Other states, such as Turkey and Egypt, have modernized with glee, competing head-to-head in international manufacturing markets.


Second choice: To westernize, or not to westernize.

Will the community adopt western-style institutions and values, or not? Will the government follow parliamentary politics, with a free market and the concept of intellectual property and open debate? Or will it decide that such values are fundamentally un-islamic, and thus reject them?

Basically, there are four responses:

Reject BOTH modernization AND westernization: Yemen, Chad, Somalia

Reject westernization, but accept modernization: Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Libya

Reject modernization, but accept westernization: No examples.

EMBRACE BOTH modernization AND westernization: Turkey, Malaysia, UAE, Lebanon (before the invasion by Syria) Egypt to a more limited extent.

The crisis comes when the leaders make one choice, and the people make a different choice. Examples occur in Iran, where many young women refuse to cover their faces or even just their hair, in spite of government enforcement. Another example is Saudi Arabia's ruling that women may not drive, under any circumstances, when everyone knows from watching western movies that women are perfectly capable of doing so.

The trick for the west is to show muslim communities that they are free to reject westernization, and even western political influence, without necesarrily becoming "anti-west" in the bargain.

Osama Bin Laden's model is to embrace modernization, but refuse westernization. Attaturk's example was at the other extreme, denying even the fundamentals of Islam itself, in order to modernize.

As long as there is tension within islam about finding a way of life that particpates in the advantages of the west without betraying islam, there will probably be violence.

I suspect that eventually (after a generation or so) islamists will find a way of making peace with western ideals, without surrendering to them. Until then, they are liable to take out their "cultural shame" on the rest of the world.

.

Originally posted by ivanterrible

Originally posted by zhangxi0183

It is the basic survival skills for a nation to correctly judge and determine the source and nature of a threat as well as its urgency in the present international politics.


Unfortunately, the major Western powers have failed to reach a common understanding of what is the biggest threat confronting the contemporary world. The United States has been vacillating on this issue.

Without any methods to make the correct judgment on threats, how can the correct choice of strategy be made. On this issue, it can be said that the United States and the whole Western world have ideological confusion and are losing their direction in strategy.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former US president security advisor and an ace US strategist, has acquired the most profound insight and far-sightedness on the strategy in the West. He enunciated this issue in his address to the American Atlantic Council not long ago.

In the view of Brzezinski, the biggest challenge facing the West is the rise of extremism, which often occurs in the company of terrorism, and this is much tougher to deal with than any time in history.

The question is that the West today has doubts about its own civilization as well as its internal survival conditions. In an article of May 18 entitled "Stark Choice of Civilization in the West", the "Financial Times" maintained that six major ideas that led the West onto the road of success, namely Christianity, optimism, science, economic growth, individualism and liberalism, have all run into crisis. It is possible for the Western civilization, which has been led into a crossroad, to get disintegrated now, and the West is losing its confidence and strategic direction.
english.peopledaily.com.cn...

what you say?


[edit on 7-7-2006 by zhangxi0183]

My 2 cents on this topic. The Western nations of Europe and America are in what I see as "free fall" liberalism, or "progressive" cultural barbarism. Let me explain, lets look at cultural degeneracy replacing morality and rule of law shall we?
Cultural Progressive Degeneracy: Code word for Liberalism run amok.
1. Homosexuality (good or bad?)
2. On demand Abortion
3.Illegal immigration
4.euthanasia rights
5."gay rights"
6.criminal rights(although finally most states now emphasize VICTIM rights)
7.voter rights (my opinion is not EVERYONE should be allowed to vote) an example is people on welfare (they'll just vote for the PIG who promises more public benefits) and no I'm not exaggerating.
8.animal rights (are animals equal to humans?)
9.feminism
10.activist judges (they're job is to enforce law not interpret)

I can think of alot more, but I'll hold there, Western nations are being destroyed from within, It's almost strange when you compare Islamic nations to the west, It leaves me wondering why they despise the west, because of our degeneracy or cause they"re just insane, probably both.
and this Zbrinski fool is a Elite Insider, don't take his word for nothing.

I'll keep it short and to the point. Only the people of the Islamic Nations can improve their situation, by reigning in the "out of control" Mullahs, and Militant Islamist. But we all know that ain't going to happen!


And for my fellow "far right wingers" only "soccer thugs" will be able to save England from the Liberal Pansies and the Islamic Jihadist!