The Daily Planet #13: Amitav Ghosh/Erasmus prize acceptance speech

I don't need to say much because he says it so well himself. A couple of quotes to whet your appetite:

As the American political theorist Samuel Huntington once noted: “The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion… but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.”

and…

Whatever might be our opinions on the rights and wrongs of the current conflicts in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Ukraine, it is now self-evident that it is no longer possible for the West to dictate solutions through force of arms, as it once did: it has lost its erstwhile ‘superiority in applying organized violence.’

It's a truth universally acknowledged that the West is losing its 'moral influence' whatever that might have been, but it's not just the carrot that's no longer as attractive; the stick isn't as stout either.

Erasmusprijswinnaars - Praemium Erasmianum Foundation

It takes only a glance at a newspaper nowadays to see that much of what we once took for granted is either being cast aside or turned on its head. Indeed, with floods sweeping away entire cities, and the prospect of a nuclear war closer than it has ever been, I couldn’t bring myself to […]