The last five years of war

In the Nov 27 issue of Newsweek Fareed Zakaria tells us:

Consider a paradox: over the past five years, political turmoil has swept the world. It began with the attacks of 9/11, followed by bombings in Bali, Casablanca, Istanbul, Madrid and London. There have been two major American-led wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq, which are ongoing, protracted, expensive and increasingly destabilizing. Add to this the war between Israel and Lebanon, deadlock in Palestine, Iran's bid for regional supremacy, North Korea's nuclear test and Russia's growing clashes with some of its neighbors.

This strengthens the point that Michael Schurer made in Imperial Hubris, that the "Islamic insurgency" is attacking the west and that Hammes made in The Sling and the Stone about the effectiveness of what he calls 4th generational warfare.

What I come away with from Zakaria's article is that the we are under attack, but we haven't yet woken up to the fact. The really interesting question is how to fight back. Just claiming that we need to defeat the insurgency is only the tip of the iceberg.

In the Newsweek article, Zakaria goes on to say:

There is no way to turn off this global economy, nor should one try. Every previous expansion of global capitalism has led to greater prosperity across the world. The story of the past 100 years is one of an ever-expanding pie.

Perhaps. If I remember correctly what I read (if not where), the time before what is now called WWI was an era of unprecedented globalization. It was also, as we now know, a prequel to a time of unprecedented destruction.

Today we have tools to destroy humanity that were not dreamed of in 1914. If we survive this current round of stresses, perhaps we shall find ourselves partaking of an ever-expanding pie. I see no reason to take it for granted however.