Western Civilization

🇪🇺 Before reading Samuel P. Huntington's book, The Clash of Civilizations, I have always considered all of Europe to be one civilization - Western Civilization - rooted in Greco-Roman heritage and traditions. However, Huntington believes that Europe is divided into two civilizations - Western and Orthodox - and the fault line between these two civilizations is essentially the same fault line that divided the Free World from the Soviet Union. I disagree with Huntington, but I believe the European Union should make a conscious effort to ensure that Europe is not divided into two civilizations and to integrate Western and Orthodox civilizations into one civilization. I think most of the countries still in the Russian sphere of influence want out, not just Ukraine and Moldova, but also Georgia, Armenia, and even Serbia. Greece recently held a summit with the mostly Balkan and Slavic countries that Huntington considers to be a part of the Orthodox Civilization, and seems willing to take on a leadership role with these countries. I really like the idea of Greece reemerging as the core state of the Orthodox countries, replacing Russia, and uniting these countries that have long been trapped in the Russian sphere of influence. Russia has always been considered a very backward territory, and not really European. Russia is not the origin of the Orthodox tradition either, Greece is. Greece has also been a NATO member and an EU member for several decades, so I believe their leadership will help this group of Orthodox countries integrate with the rest of Europe and the West, as Greece has already done, so we can be one civilization. We are stronger as one. We must evict Russian troops from Moldova, we must end Russian aggression and root out the corruption in Ukraine, we must solve the differences among states in the Balkans, and then we will emerge as one strong and united Western Civilization. xo