What Do Westerners Hope?

U.S. President Barack Obama has said that Iran and other nations that violated or withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are not exempt from a nuclear weapons strike from the United States government. Iran treated Obama’s remarks as a threat that hinted that nuclear weapons may be used against it. Obama believes that if the terrorists were to obtain access to nuclear materials or nuclear weapons, it would be the single biggest threat to U.S. security. Upon conclusion of the Nuclear Security Summit, China still held on to the “double track” strategy on Iran. Beijing did not change its attitude on sanctions against Iran. This was reflected by Hu Jintao not giving as much support to Obama as hoped.

What Do Westerners, Especially Americans, Hope?

Westerners hope to have a rival. Without a rival, the West lives in fear and anxiety. The Cold War is over and Americans are looking for another worthy opponent. We should recognize that America is a free country, where people enjoy and value freedom. We should understand that the freedom of the United States requires a strong external enemy. Without a strong enemy, it is difficult to maintain peace within the United States. The reason is simple; without an external enemy, Americans have to find an enemy among their own people.

“What Should We Do?”

In January 1920, in a debate with Oswald Spengler (1880-1936) in a Munich City Hall conference room, Weber said: “Doctor, where is the ultimate final destination? In your paper, you said that China was in the later stage of being fatigued by civilization. Even so, the Chinese warlords committed suicide by means of wars. The young German, who also was in a situation similar to that of the Chinese warlords, after preserving their lives, chose to write memoirs from the war. In short, in my mind, the Chinese point of view is far superior.”

In the introduction to the debate, Ms. Weber said: “Weber is very careful in his criticism by using the most gracious language. He respects ideas that are different from his own. Therefore, his criticisms are widely accepted… When Spengler was gradually losing ground in the debate, he was still able to assert self control and maintain his gentlemanly manner. Those in the debate later found out that no one was able to fully overcome the opponent’s argument and be declared a clear cut winner.”

The young audience was enchanted by the wealth of knowledge from both parties. But no one left with a clear answer to the common question of “what should we do?”

The history of the twentieth century confirmed the predictions of the two thinkers. The West has broken into two political systems, namely the system of free capitalist ideology (English law) and an autocratic dictatorship (Soviet Russia’s communism and Germany’s Nazism).

When Westerners, especially the Germans, read Spengler’s “Decline of the West” (Der Untergang des Abendlandes. Umrisse einer Morphologie der Weltgeschichte, Band 1: Wien 1918, Band 2: München 1922), they are not as thrilled as when the Chinese read it. Instead, they tend to read it with a sense of crisis. Germany’s history of will has always been a sad sense of history.

Huntington (Samuel Phillips Huntington, 1927-2008) is one of Spengler’s “patients.” After being cured of his mental disease, Huntington attempted to prescribe medication to the United States. In his book “Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order,” he did not unearth many new or unique theoretical perspectives. He basically reiterated Spengler’s viewpoints. However, because of Huntington, the West came to realize that the East (especially China) is not so barbaric and uncivilized. Furthermore, the West better understands that civilization is a challenge, and the challenge needs to be fought off. A civilization that fails to recognize and fight the challenge would eventually decline.

Westerners realize this, although Obama would not admit that the post-war proliferation of nuclear weapons is the result of U.S. hegemony. The United States and the United Nations have stood against the interests of the rest of the nations, leading to nuclear proliferation despite repeated containment efforts. Therefore, some terrorists openly stated that the sole purpose of acquiring nuclear or biological weapons is to attack the United States.

If you apply Weber’s words, the United States has trained its own killer. In the future, if the United States were to use the nuclear weapons to self destruct, who will then live to write its memoirs?