On the Margins of the Clash of Civilizations

Description

We find ourselves, tragically and all too easily, contributing to the transformation of political conflicts into wars of civilizational identities. These conflicts emerge angry and withdraw from the comprehensive partnership of human progress, readily accepting any provocation. This provocation escalates into strife, strife into war, war into estrangement, and estrangement into self-imposed isolation. Unfortunately, Arab and Islamic governments—consciously or unconsciously—have responded to this strife with considerable shortsightedness in crisis management, if not outright malice, attempting to exploit the strife for distraction and obfuscation.