In 1979, when Khomeini came to power in Iran, I went to a college in the US, to see my colleagues — sociologists and political scientists, studying the process of strengthening of Islam. I have noticed that in many Islamic countries the collective anti-Western sentiment had become more intense, but at the same time I have not found anyone who was looking into this matter. When I said that in the twentieth century we had to challenge communism, fascism, and Nazism, and now we have come to the era of Islamism, people looked at me perplexed. Later on, the US went to fight against Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, and now Assad, only to realize that the toppled secular regimes are being replaced with Islamists.

The United States tried to fight them with the help of the Arab States, but they turned out to supply Islamists with money and weapons. By fighting with the secular regimes of Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, Assad — the US faces these countries being taken over by Islamists. A strong collective Islamist movement has taken over Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya. It has leaked into Turkey, Indonesia, and Africa. And now threatens Saudi Arabia, meanwhile gradually penetrating into Europe. And the US is hopeless here.

 

Europe was always satisfying all of the US's whims, even when the Soviet Union collapsed Washington continued its Cold War against Moscow, threatening with NATO expansion, imposing sanctions over Crimea, and even separating Russia from Europe —  which it has always been a part of culturally and politically. The US did not foresee the threat of Islam, and continued its fight against the one nation which could have been its obvious ally.

 

What can we, the ordinary Europeans, do in this situation? We can try to change the atmosphere of distrust towards Russia and remind everyone that we belong to the same civilization. We can put an end to the Cold War, create a common Western front of friendship and trust. Europe can provide assistance in the Russian-Ukrainian dialogue, lift sanctions against Russia. Europeans can help Russia and Ukraine get together to grant  the constitution with a greater autonomy to the country’s regions. Let us make overall efforts to restore peace between the United States, Europe, and Russia.