The US is the elephant stomping on everything so the weaker it becomes, the more isolated, and the more withdrawn from the world stage it becomes the better. China is the rising power and Russia and the EU can represent, along with China, the real world interests of humanity while the US goes into decline and after Trump we may be able to join up with the other three world leaders as a 4th.
I'm sorry Juan but Hegel (among others) maintains it was the Reformation, initiated by Luther, that was responsible for the rebirth of critical independent thinking in Europe -- it was, as I pointed out, an unintended consequence. Both Descartes and Spinoza were made possible as a result of Luther's Reformation -- despite his being a "barbarian fanatic" (as one age judges another) -- this is the famous "Cunning of Reason" from Hegel's "Lectures on the Philosophy of History" but the general thesis of the relation of the Reformation to the later developments in European philosophy are fairly well agreed upon in the field of European intellectual history. Anyway, you should know the difference between secularization based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Uzbekistan -- I'm disappointed in your "informed" comment!
Hirsi Ali is easy to refute but that's doesn't mean Islam would not benefit from some kind of "reform" movement. Luther's Reformation had the unintended consequent of stimulating individual thinking free from religious control which led to Descartes, Spinoza, the scientific revolution the Enlightenment, Darwinism, Marxism and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A major Islamic nation, Turkey, has just removed all references to evolution from its school texts! The values stimulated by the Reformation (unintended by most of the Reformers) have contributed to world civilization and not just to Europe, and many of the secular values enjoyed by millions of people would benefit the peoples of the Islamic world if they could be freely exposed to them and not repressed by the sort of religious bigotry imposed by their governments and ruling class. This has nothing to do with Islamophobia which is a reactionary political doctrine promulgated by forces in the West which are hostile to our own Enlightenment based political and social values. I would like to see a blossoming of Enlightenment values -- in all countries and areas -- from South Carolina to Saudi Arabia and Mississippi to Morocco, etc. Every religion should support human equality (racial, national, ethnic, sexual, gender, etc.) as well as freedom of speech and of belief. Any religion that doesn't support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is in need of a Reformation and Enlighenment and that includes Islam as well Christianity (which still hasn't gotten the message in many respects) - and many Buddhists in Myanmar could use a dose of Diderot as well.
The US is the elephant stomping on everything so the weaker it becomes, the more isolated, and the more withdrawn from the world stage it becomes the better. China is the rising power and Russia and the EU can represent, along with China, the real world interests of humanity while the US goes into decline and after Trump we may be able to join up with the other three world leaders as a 4th.
I'm sorry Juan but Hegel (among others) maintains it was the Reformation, initiated by Luther, that was responsible for the rebirth of critical independent thinking in Europe -- it was, as I pointed out, an unintended consequence. Both Descartes and Spinoza were made possible as a result of Luther's Reformation -- despite his being a "barbarian fanatic" (as one age judges another) -- this is the famous "Cunning of Reason" from Hegel's "Lectures on the Philosophy of History" but the general thesis of the relation of the Reformation to the later developments in European philosophy are fairly well agreed upon in the field of European intellectual history. Anyway, you should know the difference between secularization based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Uzbekistan -- I'm disappointed in your "informed" comment!
Hirsi Ali is easy to refute but that's doesn't mean Islam would not benefit from some kind of "reform" movement. Luther's Reformation had the unintended consequent of stimulating individual thinking free from religious control which led to Descartes, Spinoza, the scientific revolution the Enlightenment, Darwinism, Marxism and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A major Islamic nation, Turkey, has just removed all references to evolution from its school texts! The values stimulated by the Reformation (unintended by most of the Reformers) have contributed to world civilization and not just to Europe, and many of the secular values enjoyed by millions of people would benefit the peoples of the Islamic world if they could be freely exposed to them and not repressed by the sort of religious bigotry imposed by their governments and ruling class. This has nothing to do with Islamophobia which is a reactionary political doctrine promulgated by forces in the West which are hostile to our own Enlightenment based political and social values. I would like to see a blossoming of Enlightenment values -- in all countries and areas -- from South Carolina to Saudi Arabia and Mississippi to Morocco, etc. Every religion should support human equality (racial, national, ethnic, sexual, gender, etc.) as well as freedom of speech and of belief. Any religion that doesn't support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is in need of a Reformation and Enlighenment and that includes Islam as well Christianity (which still hasn't gotten the message in many respects) - and many Buddhists in Myanmar could use a dose of Diderot as well.