For those of you who have never heard of Thomas P.M. Barnett, I offer you this link, and as always, show a link on the right of this page.
After reading the Gates of Vienna post mentioned below, I wrote to Mr. Barnett to get his take on the following, which read in part:
“'The political and economic advantages that lead people to seek asylum in the West are the result of territorial jurisdiction. Yet territorial jurisdictions can survive only if borders are controlled. Transnational legislation, acting together with the culture of repudiation, is therefore rapidly undermining the conditions that make Western freedoms durable.'
"Scruton comments that for the first time in centuries Islam appears to be 'a single religious movement united around a single goal,' and that 'one major factor in producing this unwonted unity is Western civilization and the process of globalization that it has set in motion.' According to him, this is a result of 'Western prosperity, Western legal systems, Western forms of banking, and Western communications that human initiatives now reach so easily across frontiers to affect the lives and aspirations of people all over the globe.'
"Thus we have the irony in which 'Western civilization depends on an idea of citizenship that is not global at all, but rooted in territorial jurisdiction and national loyalty.' By contrast, Islam, which has been until recently remote from the Western world, is founded on an ideal 'which is entirely global in its significance.' Globalization, therefore, 'offers militant Islam the opportunity that it has lacked since the Ottoman retreat from central Europe.' It has brought into existence 'a true Islamic umma, which identifies itself across borders in terms of a global form of legitimacy, and which attaches itself like a parasite to global institutions and techniques that are the by-products of Western democracy.'"
Here is Mr. Barnett's response: "What you find is that some, who argue they speak for all, want disconnectedness.
"But when polled, nearly everyone wants economic connectivity.
"What they fear is loss of political control and too rapid social change.
"But no one's really against doing better economically, and that means connectivity--unless you're a dictator or wannabe."
If you've never read Mr. Barnett, take the opportunity to do so. He is one of the most influential men alive today. And get a copy of The Pentagon's New Map. He gives you new paradigms with which to view the evolving state of international relations...and the evolving state of nations. And, it could cheer you up!
