[S.O.T.T]: The outlook of current Western leaders suggests that humanity will be hard pressed to survive the 21st century
Talk about a graphic display of soft power: Beijing this week hosted the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations.
Organized under the direct supervision of President Xi Jinping it took place amid an "Asian Culture Carnival." Sure, there were dubious, kitschy and syrupy overtones, but what really mattered was what Xi himself had to say to China and all of Asia.
In his keynote speech, the Chinese leader essentially stressed that one civilization forcing itself upon another is "foolish" and "disastrous." In Xi's concept of a dialogue of civilizations, he referred to the New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as programs that "have expanded the channels for communication exchanges."
Xi's composure and rationality present a stark, contrasting message to US President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign.
The logic is always divide and rule and clash of civilizations - divisions provoking chaos all across Eurasia.
But this strategy is being applied against the background of a crucial historical juncture: The era when BRI is being configured as the road map for progressive Eurasian integration.
Quo Vadis, Humanity?
It's not hard to detect the faintest of smiles on the faces of Chinese strategists as they survey "The Big Picture" from the vantage point of 5,000 years of civilization. The Christian West as the unique road map to deliver humanity from evil - in fact, the foundation of Pax Americana - is regarded as an amusing fiction at best.
That fiction is now looking downright dangerous, wallowing in exceptionalism and demonization of "The Other" in myriad forms. The Other - from the Islamic Republic of Iran to atheist China, not to mention "autocratic" Russia - automatically qualifies as a manifestation of "evil."
China, by contrast, is polytheist, pluralist, multi-polar - embracing Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism. That is mirrored by the current drive towards a multi-polar world-system. What matters is unity in multiplicity - as Xi stressed in his keynote speech. In it, we find China and Persia, two ancient civilizations - not by accident linked by the Ancient Silk Road - thinking alike.
Then there's the appalling state of the planet, which dwarfs the current appalling spectacle of political madness. UCLA geographer and global best-selling author Jared Diamond is not being terribly precise, but he estimates there's a 49% chance "that the world as we know it will collapse by about 2050."
As encapsulated by author Nafeez Ahmad:
"Over the last 500 years or so, humanity has erected an 'endless growth' civilization premised on a particular patchwork of ideological worldviews, ethical values, political and economic structures, and personal behaviors. This is a paradigm that elevates the vision of human beings as disconnected, atomistic, competing material units, which seek to maximize their own material consumption as the principal mechanism for self-gratification."
What we're living now is not a clash of civilizations; it's a crisis of civilization.
If the paradigm under which most of humanity barely survives is not changed - and there's precious little evidence it will - there won't be any civilizations left to clash...read more>>>...