Essay - Clash of Civilizations the First Issue to Address in This...

Clash of Civilizations

The first issue to address in this essay is: what ***** Samuel Huntington's thesis in "The Clash of Civilizations"? Among the cogent points that Huntington makes in his controversial essay is that the wars of the future will be between cultures, not between k*****gs, presidents or nation-states necessarily. And he explains that part ***** the problem is the cultural traditions in one civilization are far less easily compromised and blended into ***** traditions in another civilization than are political ***** economic ***** and values.

He sites the example of the old Soviet Union, now Russia; one-time communists can become democrats, and the poor can ***** rich; but Russians will never become Estonians, ***** so forth. And since religion plays such an enormous role in culture, it is fair to also mention that a person c***** be ***** Muslim whether in Sudan, Libya or in Iran; but one can't be half-Muslim and half-Chr*****tian, ***** *****-Jewish and part-Christian. You're either one way or the other; you can't ***** Catholic on Sunday and Jewish on the Sabbath.

***** second question to be *****ed in this essay is, why is Samuel Hunt*****gton's ********** so compelling to some people today, in 2006, thirteen years after he wrote his essay? On one level, ***** *****fers an answer to the mystery as to why Islamic fundamentalists despise ***** West so fiercely. ***** another ***** his thesis is widely embraced by scholars, historians, and others *****cause what he postulated 13 years ago h***** proven to be correct. T*****e emerging Islamic ***** of radicals (led by Osama bin Laden) who interpret the Koran as justifying jihad, attacked ***** World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001, carrying out cultural clashes between the Islamic / Muslim world and the West in ***** way very similar to ***** Huntington projected they would.

Huntington gained credibility when he wrote that cultural ***** ***** lead to "crises" and "bloodshed," because they certainly did. And Islamic radicals continue to carry ***** those bloody ***** clashes / jihads in Lebanon, Israel, Iraq, the UK, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in places where Islamic militants perceive that the West (the U.S. ***** particular) is pushing Western cultural issues on the Muslim world in an attempt ***** wipe out Islamic culture.

These clashes are now new; too put them into perspective Huntingt***** notes that the conflict between Western civilization and the Islamic civilizations has been going on for 1,300 *****. That is important for today's generation of scholars ***** students to know, ***** many students ***** only aware of names like ***** Laden and groups like al Qaeda and Hezbollah. Indeed, after WWII, when the colonial empires of the West faded, Arab national*****m emerged, followed by ***** fundamentalism, he asserts. He was correct ***** he ***** ***** "centuries-*****" military confrontations between the ***** and Islam are "un*****ly to decline."

Ano*****r pivotal point should be part ***** this discussion, ***** that comes from *****on's book (published in 1999), called The Clash of ***** and the Remaking of