Seven years of fear
The moment the second plane hit the World Trade Center on that September 11, it was clear that the world as we knew it would change radically. Seven years have passed and indeed we are living in a much less stable world, where much that we took for granted has changed. But it is by no means certain that these changes are the result of terrorism and the sometimes exaggerated reaction to it, and not the result of international economic development and the various historical loose ends that plague many parts of the planet. Today, Osama bin Laden is in hiding. His fiery message – calling for the end of the West and its allies, and the imposition of a new Caliphate – seems to have been exhausted. Sporadic terrorist attacks have of course cost thousands of lives and have changed the way we travel and look at each other. But, with some exceptions, most countries are marching onward, doing their best for the well-being of their citizens. America’s adventures in Afghanistan and Iraq might not be nearing their end but they have not provoked any general uprising by Muslims against the West. On the contrary, the greatest dangers in the Arab and Muslim world still stem mainly from social and economic injustice as well as national, religious and racial differences. Ultimately, it seems that Thomas Malthus and not bin Laden will be the prophet of our age, as an ever-growing population consumes more and more of the Earth, at great cost to the environment, pushing up prices of fuel, food and other commodities. The greed and lack of control in the markets of the United States and Britain provoked an economic crisis that spread like a virus across the global economy. The irrelevance of the United Nations and the emergence of Russia from the ruins of the Soviet bloc have forced smaller countries to seek new alliances and a new balance in a less stable world. This might be small consolation, but the world has far bigger problems than those posed by terrorism.
