Huntington (en)

The analysis, published 1993 by Huntington, has refocused attention after the 9/11 Islamic terrorist attacks – and there seems to be no end: Madrid (3/11/04), bombings in Istanbul (11/20/03) and now in London (7/7/05) or the ritual assassination of Dutch filmmaker and writer Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam (11/2/04). And therefore there is no end of TV-discussions how to react. The foreign policy aide to the US State Department speaks of so-called “fault-line-wars”, which exist between the cultures (religions) and will give endlessly smouldering. As examples the hunter Huntington specifies among other things the Gulf War and Afghanistan. The hotspots today are on the fault lines between the religions in Chechnya, the Middle East, Tibet, Sri Lanka, and Bosnia. In Yugoslavia the Serbs where supported by Russian diplomatist while Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran and Libya provided arms to the Bosnians. Yugoslavia is an example of what happens to a country where religious factors become the means for identifying oneself. And it could develop worse: Koran-Sura 9, verse 5: “Fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them. And seize them, beleaguer them and lie in wait for them, in every stratagem [of war].” Islam teaches that Muslims must not befriend Jews and Christians. Surat Al-Maidah 5:51 says, “O ye, who believe, take not the Jews or the Christians for your friends and protectors. They are but friends and protectors to each other.” In the chapter about how to stop those “break-line-wars” Huntington writes: “The force along cultural break lines may stop for a while completely, but it rarely ends really.” “These problems become still more complicated, if the cultures involved do not have a core state.” Hierarchy-creditor finishing sentence of this important chapter: “A break line war cooks from down highly, a break line peace seeps from above down”. We hope, Huntington will know with security, which at the end is “above”. Another unsentimental, very tough-minded Huntington analysis: “The conflict can disappear fast and brutally, as a group extinguishes the other one.” The fact that cultural difference could brought to coexistence, into an equilibrium, supported by a progressive deliberated secularization of all denominations (accompanied by a sober transformation of all too denomination-linked educating systems) – such trains of thought we unfortunately miss in this provoking sermon, mainly dominated by a military perspective…