In the author’s view, the concept of a ‘global war on terrorism’ is a semantic, strategic, military and legal aberration, which, by confusing the enemy and the method of fighting him, has led the Western powers into an intellectual impasse that muddles their thinking in many areas and results in ludicrous situations.
The Nameless Enemy
The end of the Cold War brought about a radical modification of the Western world’s strategic references; confused theories and situations have developed. New forms of conflict have appeared, making former strategic and legal references obsolete. We have been deluged by alleged novelties: new situations, new threats, new concepts, new contexts, and so on.
Are the new concepts arising from the attack on the Twin Towers really relevant? Are we really in a totally new situation?
In reality, we have not accepted the fact that the principal disruption was not a more or less important change in the nature of the world or of war, but in a distortion of our mentalities, in our modern-day pride that scorns the past, and in our inability, or our political refusal, to define clearly our adversary.
Il reste 92 % de l'article à lire
