A constant theme of this inconsequential blog has been that the Anglosphere forms the core of Western Civilization, OK, OK, Civilisation for those in some parts of the Queen's realms. In modern times, at least, it overwhelmingly has been the hardy lads and lassies of the Anglosphere who have suited up and gone to battle to protect Western Civ from power-hungry monarchs, Fascists, Nazis, Communists, and "religious" totalitarians be they Shintoist or Islamist. These Anglophones also have provided much if not most of Western Civ's economic, moral, intellectual, and creative firepower (see this charming piece, for example.)
When that core is weak, then Western Civ ain't in good shape.
Well, friends, that core is in very serious trouble, perhaps the most serious since, at a minimum, the 1930s and perhaps ever.
As we have discussed many times, the United States under the current misadministration of The One is rapidly becoming a non-player on the world scene. The most powerful country ever to exist has become a joke. Our economy is a shambles and headed for more trouble as spending, taxation, new "rights," and new programs grow like weeds. Key institutions, e.g., education, government bureaucracy, courts, the media, have fallen into the hands of the progressives and been transformed into churches of progressivism. Freedom of speech has become ever more constrained as progressivism demands uniformity in thought and action. Even a bedrock conservative institution such as the military must divert increasing attention and resources away from the core mission, i.e., defending the nation and its interests, and must fuss with transgender, gay, and ecological issues. The White House and all its appendages have fallen to an anti-Western cabal determined to reshape the United States into something unrecognizable--and doing so.
The result of the progressive take-over has been a post-United States world. What was once a "what-if" intellectual exercise and the subject for alternative history books and films, has become a reality. We now know what the world looks like without the United States. It is a horrid place. It is a place where petty tyrants such as Putin can assert themselves and do as they will. It is one where rag-tag bands of Islamic terrorists and gangsters can terrorize large swaths of the planet. A place where Islam, almost unimpeded, can launch the most amazing thing I have seen in my life, the large-scale invasion of Europe. The Muslims now stand not far from achieving what once seemed a forlorn mad dream: the Islamization of Europe, the achievement of the Great Caliphate. The Gates of Vienna have been breached, thrown open from the inside.
Britain, most emphatically England, overall perhaps the most important and consequential country of the past 500 years, has just about become a non-entity. It is, in fact, in danger of disappearing completely. There are some glimmers of hope (as described here, for example) but the trend line is overwhelmingly negative. English and British greatness did not come from the Empire. That Empire could have disappeared long before it did without affecting the UK's claim to greatness. It came from that special combination of arrogance, stubbornness, eccentricity, creativity, and curiosity, combined with intellectual and physical courage that has long characterized the British, especially the English. That Britain that I so admired is disappearing first under the "homogenizing" influence of the disastrous EU monstrosity--why did Britain sign up for that?--and now even more precipitously under the increasing tidal wave of hostile immigration. Britain's current government is made up of nominal conservatives who, at best, assume the deer-in-the-headlights stance when confronting the threat to the nation's very existence. The train is coming at full speed. Britain's "conservative" government stands frozen on the tracks.
I have written before about my appreciation and admiration for Australia. More so than many other countries, common sense has characterized Australia. It seems, alas, no longer. I have made no secret for my admiration for gutsy PMs such as Howard and Abbott. Australia's government, for reasons best known to the Aussies, has come under new management via a Liberal intramural battle which left Abbott out and "moderate" billionaire Turnbull in. The new PM seems a decent sort but, and Australians can fill the large blanks in my knowledge, he reminds me of establishment Republican politicians here in the USA, such as Jeb Bush: probably a little too quick to make a compromise with the progressive agenda. For now, however, he appears holding firm, for now, on refusing to kill Australia's coal industry as demanded by the "climate changer" clangers and seems to be keeping, for now, Abbott's tough immigration stance.
Turnbull, nevertheless, does not inspire great confidence over the long haul, and, as with our own establishment "conservatives," likely will not provide a strong international voice of defiance as the West faces destruction from the Ribbontrop-Molotov pact between Islam and progressivism. He will get beaten down by the ceaseless progressive attack and begin to compromise. That is my bold prediction.
Now Canada has joined the ranks of mush-mouths. Justin Trudeau, really? Again, I liked Harper a lot. He seemed like a tough sort who knew how to stand up for his country's interests and that of the West. He was particularly defiant in his defense of Israel, rejecting the nonsense put out by the Ribbontrop-Molotov sorts. Harper got put out, again for reasons Canadians can provide, but certainly Obama and his absurd Keystone policies must have had an effect. A lot of progs at the State Department did not like Harper and his stance on global climate change and his positions on Israel. If this Trudeau does not fall far from the tree of the previous Trudeau, we are all in serious trouble. As with our own Obama, he comes from a highly dysfunctional and leftist family. As with Obama, he seems to have a meager resume but talks a good prog game. The media, of course, fawn all over him writing puff pieces about his youthful good looks, his hair, his shirt buttons (here and here, for example) which makes me very queasy. The West is in dire straights and Canada's leader is what? Well dressed? Who knows? And that is not a useful thing as we have found out from our experience with "good looking, charismatic" zero accomplishment Obama.
There are voices, such as in Israel and Hungary, warning the West of the impending disaster. But are those enough? No. The Anglosphere is the core of Western civilization. When that core is absent in the struggle to save that civilization, the barbarians win. We are facing a new age of barbarianism and our leaders talk about global warming and the need not to insult the people who are out to destroy us.
There is no replacement for the USA and its hardy band of Anglophones.