And Now For The Hockey Sticks

“Four Six years have passed since the mortal races banded together, and stood united against the might of the Burning Legion. Though Azeroth was saved, the tenuous pact between the Horde and the Alliance has all but evaporated. The drums of war thunder once again.” - World of Warcraft, Cinematic Trailer

Too early for such analogies? I guess. I know people who lost loved ones, who did not go out for a year and I have family in New York today.

September 11 was a catalyst. It brought about an inevitable discussion re the failure of multiculturalism, the European need for immigration given demographics and the tendency against assimilation of Muslim communities, about absorption capacities (ugly word) and “Eurabia” (quite a pretty word, though I miss Oriana). 9/11 precipitated a change in foreign policy (I remember being excited about Kagan) and led to two wars, neither of which are over. It prompted a theological discussion about the manifestation of evil in the world and the right to use belief as a rationale for violence (Habermas/Derrida), as well as an ecclesiastical debate around the relationship of religions. It made all of us significantly less free.

I am not a relativist. I tend to see clear shades of black and white in the world and think that there are certain junctions in one’s life where one has to make a call about which shade that colour is. Even this side of Abu Ghraib, I think we can be the force for good in the world. Together with publications such as the Economist, I chose to believe the reasons for going to war in Iraq and I have not turned on that decision nor will I renounce it today. I also think the average person in Iraq is probably worse off today than five years ago. In venture capital terms, there were and continue to be clear problems around team and execution. I also firmly believe in Powell’s Pottery Barn rule (”you break it, you own it”) and think that we have a moral obligation to follow through both in Afghanistan and Iraq.

September 11 revealed that there is a new long-term medium intensity struggle in the world. I think that the West will eventually win that struggle through the combined attractiveness of Cheeseburgers, Mickey Mouse, Hollywood, hot pants and Diet Coke. In the meantime, I would prefer to try and fight the good fight on the proxy front lines of Afghanistan and Iraq, not least to diver attention from the soft underbelly that is London and New York. If that makes me a cynic, at least it’s a cynic safe in his moral realism.