Let me answer Vessela Tcherneva’s question asked at the Heinrich Boll Foundation. “The West” is not just a dead concept. It was dead on arrival, stillborn. The entire idea was a propaganda victory of Great Britain’s used to draw us into World War II in Europe. The weakness of the concept is just more obvious now that there isn’t a Soviet Union with which to contrast it.
Almost immediately following the end of the war, there were already three Wests: the United States, the United Kingdom, and Western Europe. Our interests were not synonymous and sometimes not even congruent. Look at the Suez Canal crisis for an example of that.
How frequently has Germany acted against our interests over the period of the last 30 years? German reunification was a vital interest for Germany but not of the U. S. Germany promoted the collapse of Yugoslavia, again not one of our interests. German companies traded dual-use technology to allow Iraq and Iran to pursue their weapons programs and built China’s factories. Where were the complaints about the decline of “the West” then?
The United States is neither the United Kingdom nor Europe. We are demographically, historically, economically, politically, socially, and culturally distinct from both of them. When they need us it’s “the West”; when they don’t it’s full speed ahead following their own national interests.
The article is a thinly veiled rant against President Trump.
When somebody says/writes anti-intellectual, it is highly likely that they are unintellectual. Adhering to conventional wisdom and popular opinion is not intellectual.
The hallmark of an intellectual idea is that it is most likely wrong. Few ideas survive history. It would be better to examine how and why a intellectually sound argument today will be idiotic tomorrow. A useful intellectual activity would be to develop a proper argument for what is impossible.
Build the Wall all the way around.