Russia and Europe: Two Different Histories — Patrick Armstrong

This implies that Europe and Russia have different cultures, too. In fact, These are two different civilizations, just as China is civilizational, India is civilizational, and Iran (Persia) is civilizational. The US and the Latin American elite of European descent are part of Western civilization.

One of the foremost issues today is the clash of civilizations owing to globalization resulting from innovation in communications and transportation technology. Previously, different civilizations were link largely through trade, which was not a major influence civilizationally.

Now the world is in turmoil over civilizational differences. This is complicated by Western civilizationists' assumption of exceptionalism, and especially Americans. The result is conflict owing to the attempt to impose Western civilization on other civilizations.

This is a basis of the defining conflict between liberalism, which is Western, and traditionalism, which is specific to civilizations. Thus, the West is in a way also in conflict with itself between liberals and traditionalists. But this did not emerge as a result of liberalism but as a consequence of Christian evangelism as a justification for the expansion of Christendom. Thus, "the white man's burden."

This, of course, omits Islamic civilization and Islamic expansionism by the sword. Islam is a civilizational religion and there were various Islamic empires. So Islam must also be taken into account in matters civilizational. While Islam is a relative newcomer historically, the Arabian region in which Islam was born and grew initially is the site of one of the world's most ancient civilizations, that of Mesopotamia and the Assyrian Empire, which lasted from the middle of the third millennia BCE until 612 CE.

Strategic Culture Foundation
Russia and Europe: Two Different Histories

Patrick Armstrong