Fragmentation of the West, then of the EU?

Well, Saddam Hussein managed to fragment the West when Germany and France did not sign up to the Iraq War. It is now evident that Muammer Gaddafi has managed to fragment the EU since we find France and the UK on one side and Germany on the other. The fragmentation of the Franco-German axis is interesting because the credit rating of France depend on its close association with Germany according to Georg Soros. NATO is not really functional since Germany and Turkey are against the Libya intervention and the EU is a joke.

I'm not talking about the UK standing at the side of the Euro-zone, which is another type of fragmentation, but of the divide along the line of the interpretation of multiculturalism. One definition of this word means that all cultures are equal and should get equal respect in society where they coexist. I guess this is an extension of an anti-racial idea where race equals culture. In my mind all cultures are not equal even if human rights are equal in all cultures.

It is very easy to make claims that violate such an idea. Take for example the Cosa Nostra in Sicily. A culture, not good. The Burmese culture, for example, is not known for its beauty either. In Sweden the cultural solution that the Sweden Democrats want is not popular but almost 7% of the Swedes want to subscribe to it.

Gaddafi's culture, his idea of a society, is regarded by many as something the like of Cosa Nostra even if they generally do not send their sons to the London School of Economics and get awarded PhD's. Gangster cultures have to be taken seriously these days when the Mexican's fight for law and order against the drug mafia.

You run into problems with multiculturalism when cultures become civilizations like the Muslim world and the Chinese world. I believe that mankind can evolve optimally from the Western culture but not from the authoritarian cultures due to the superior freedom of thought. However, just like democracy lasted for about a hundred years in Athens the trust of authoritarianism might threaten it after about a century right now. Samuel P Huntington became famous with his "Clash of Civilizations" which we now find in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. We also find it in economic squirmishes between the West and China.

What are we then to make out of the so called Arab Spring? It seems like some countries prefer to treat it as a democracy movement and the search for universal freedom. But then we should remind us that the countries rioting have about 7% of their population liking the World Trade Center disaster. The West has many enemies in these countries and we don't know yet who will be in charge when the debacle is over only that organized religion is best poised to take over.

Which is then the best approach to take if we want to become friends with countries in North Africa and the Middle East? Do we want to participate in their civil war as some seem keen to do? It is very difficult since there seem to be different principles of engagement in different geographical regions. Dictators are good in Bahrain but bad in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt. I still think it is very dangerous to enter the fray.