A War of Civilizations.

With the advent of the internet, an astronomical surge of international communication capability at an individual level resulted. This dramatic change in the world obviously will continue to usher in the good with the bad, and a lot of it.

Henry Kissinger points out what many don't want to hear, the erosion of the nation-state, which is arguably inevitable, but changing nonetheless, and speaks of a war of civilizations.

From the AFP:

Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger warned that Europe and the United States must unite to head off a "war of civilizations" arising from a nuclear-armed Middle East...

Kissinger wrote that the big threat lay in the erosion of nation states and the emergence of transnational groups. Iran was at the centre of the challenge, he said, with its support for Hezbollah, radical Shiite groups in Iraq and its nuclear program.

Washington must accept that many European nations were more optimistic about talks designed to convince Iran to halt uranium enrichment -- a process Tehran denies is aimed at making weapons, he wrote.

But in return, he said, Europe should accept the process must include a "bottom line" beyond which diplomatic flexibility must not go and a time limit to ensure talks did not become a shield for "developing new assaults."

I think he's right, no government can stop the flow of information, which include dangerous cocktails of religion, ideology and hate. And with the international community's record on handling rogue states, failed states, and common thugs, placing our eggs in the community's basket is hardly a good idea. The United States must take the initiative, more so than it has with the War on Terror. Isolation is out of the question. Pursuing a soft American empire would much better serve the interests of free people world-wide.

Kissinger is not just talking about Iran, he speaks of Islamic fascism, penetrating virtually every geographic region at an increasing rate. That is the fact. What doesn't have to become fact is a nuclear Iran. The combination of the two is unconscionable.