Kaplan once again offers plenty of food for thought. Over the past two generations, the "West" has become accustomed to thinking like a merchant: don't think beyond the next trade transaction and ensure your "customers" trust you. Kaplan describes the new era, that of the farmer who thinks in terms of generations and has only the interests of the family at heart. That's why Trump's US no longer belongs to the "West." Some would call this state of affairs "regression."
The US is not Trump’s. He’s just passing through; but in the meantime, you would do well to avoid statements such as yours. It serves no useful purpose.
Brilliant. True. I am a citizen of the United States and have never been educated to think about the long horizons that you invoke. This column was the introduction to a way of thought that I hadn’t ever considered. Thanks, Nachum.
Le rapport au temps est fondamentalement différent entre l’Orient et l’Occident: l’Orient à une préférence (très) marquée pour le temps long tandis Que l’Occident se caractérise par une préférence pour le temps (très) court.
Very good observations and one that should be studied by everyone who works in any policy role involving the middle east (state department, dept of war, etc.). Another dimension is that martyrdom (of the population not the leaders) is constantly promoted. The religious dimension is something the west cannot grapple with nor understand as they are many centuries removed from movements like the crusades where religious fervor was put to use by the monarchs and governments. Nachum's observation that hard power is needed to survive in this region seems obvious, but to the western world such a view is an anathema. In fact, it is the lack of such understanding that may be the undoing of western countries as they continue to assume that those coming from such cultures will moderate when living in the west.
Nice essay! Very Bernard Lewisian. Lewis's two slim books released in the years after 9/11 go into this idea of different clock time (one was called What Went Wrong? and I think the other was called The Crisis of Islam). Of course, when the ISAF mission was ongoing in Afghanistan, the Taliban saying went, they have all the watches and we have all the time. (Turned out they got to keep some pretty nice watches too.)
Kaplan once again offers plenty of food for thought. Over the past two generations, the "West" has become accustomed to thinking like a merchant: don't think beyond the next trade transaction and ensure your "customers" trust you. Kaplan describes the new era, that of the farmer who thinks in terms of generations and has only the interests of the family at heart. That's why Trump's US no longer belongs to the "West." Some would call this state of affairs "regression."
The US is not Trump’s. He’s just passing through; but in the meantime, you would do well to avoid statements such as yours. It serves no useful purpose.
Brilliant. True. I am a citizen of the United States and have never been educated to think about the long horizons that you invoke. This column was the introduction to a way of thought that I hadn’t ever considered. Thanks, Nachum.
Thank you. Hopefully more Westerners will understand the actual historical differences.
Le rapport au temps est fondamentalement différent entre l’Orient et l’Occident: l’Orient à une préférence (très) marquée pour le temps long tandis Que l’Occident se caractérise par une préférence pour le temps (très) court.
Very good observations and one that should be studied by everyone who works in any policy role involving the middle east (state department, dept of war, etc.). Another dimension is that martyrdom (of the population not the leaders) is constantly promoted. The religious dimension is something the west cannot grapple with nor understand as they are many centuries removed from movements like the crusades where religious fervor was put to use by the monarchs and governments. Nachum's observation that hard power is needed to survive in this region seems obvious, but to the western world such a view is an anathema. In fact, it is the lack of such understanding that may be the undoing of western countries as they continue to assume that those coming from such cultures will moderate when living in the west.
Excellent reminder that we are just passing through.
Nice essay! Very Bernard Lewisian. Lewis's two slim books released in the years after 9/11 go into this idea of different clock time (one was called What Went Wrong? and I think the other was called The Crisis of Islam). Of course, when the ISAF mission was ongoing in Afghanistan, the Taliban saying went, they have all the watches and we have all the time. (Turned out they got to keep some pretty nice watches too.)