Pyrrhic Win for the Future of Civilization
Thursday, October 31st, 2002Yulia Latynina writes: At the end of the 20th century, everything came full circle. The infrastructure of post-industrial society reached such a level of complexity that it became a weapon in itself. The weapon of the third world war is not the nuclear bomb, but the civilian airliner and the theater. This is a guerrilla war in which Islamic extremists are using the civilized world’s own infrastructure against it. The guerrillas believe that Islam should assume a leading position in the world, and that their enemies are enemies of Allah. But the real convictions of the shakhidy are very similar to those laid out by Ataulphus 16 centuries ago: “Why do these pampered cowards in their skyscrapers have everything, while we, who are prepared to die, have nothing?” I have no intention of indiscriminately knocking Islam, but for some reason we haven’t seen Shintoist terrorists. The snipers captured in Washington had accepted Islam, not Buddhism. The paradox of the third world war is that the terrorists cannot win. If they did, there would be no one to produce the weapons they like to use –airplanes and musicals. (10/31/02)
more…
