![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.woydt.be\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Nicola\u0301s-Lamas-at-Max-Goelitz-Berlin_49-1152x1536-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“I used to believe<\/a> several things about the 21st century that Vladimir Putin<\/a>\u2019s invasion of Ukraine and Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s election in 2016 have shown me are false. I assumed:<\/p>\n [1] Nationalism is disappearing.<\/strong><\/p>\n I expected globalization<\/a> would blur borders<\/a>, create economic interdependence among nations<\/a> and regions and extend a modern consumer<\/a> and artistic<\/a> culture<\/a> worldwide.<\/p>\n I was wrong. Both Putin<\/a> and Trump<\/a> have exploited xenophobic nationalism<\/a> to build their power<\/a>. (Putin\u2019s aggression has also ignited an inspiring patriotism<\/a> in Ukraine.)<\/p>\n [2] Nations can no longer control what their citizens know.<\/strong><\/p>\n I assumed that emerging digital technologies, including the internet<\/a>, would make it impossible to control worldwide flows of information<\/a> and knowledge<\/a>. Tyrants could no longer keep their people in the dark or hoodwink them with propaganda.<\/p>\n Wrong again. Trump filled the media with lies, as has Putin. Putin has also cut off Russian<\/a> citizens from the truth<\/a> about what\u2019s occurring in Ukraine.<\/p>\n [3] Advanced nations will no longer war<\/a> over geographic territory.<\/strong><\/p>\n I thought that in the ‘new economy’, land was becoming less valuable than technological knowhow<\/a> and innovation. Competition among nations would therefore be over the development of cutting-edge inventions.<\/p>\n I was only partly right. While skills and innovation are critical, land<\/a> still provides access to critical raw materials and buffers against potential foreign aggressors.<\/p>\n [4] Major nuclear powers will never risk war against each other because of the certainty of \u201cmutually assured destruction\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n I bought the conventional wisdom that nuclear war<\/a> was unthinkable.<\/p>\n I fear I was wrong. Putin is now resorting to dangerous nuclear brinksmanship.<\/p>\n [5] Civilization will never again be held hostage by crazy isolated men with the power to wreak havoc.<\/strong><\/p>\n I assumed this was a phenomenon of the 20th century and that 21st-century governments, even totalitarian<\/a> ones, would constrain tyrants.<\/p>\n Trump and Putin have convinced<\/a> me I was mistaken.<\/p>\n [6] Advances in warfare, such as cyber-warfare and precision weapons, will minimize civilian casualties.<\/strong><\/p>\n I was persuaded by specialists in defense strategy that it no longer made sense for sophisticated powers to target civilians.<\/p>\n Utterly wrong. Civilian casualties in Ukraine are mounting.<\/p>\n [7] Democracy is inevitable.<\/strong><\/p>\n I formed this belief in the early 1990s, when the Soviet Union had imploded and China<\/a> was still poor. It seemed to me that totalitarian<\/a> regimes didn\u2019t stand a chance in the new technologically driven, globalized<\/a> world. Sure, petty dictatorships would remain in some retrograde regions of the world. But modernity<\/a> came with democracy, and democracy with modernity.<\/p>\n Both Trump and Putin have shown how wrong I was on this, too.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Ukrainians are showing that Trump\u2019s and Putin\u2019s efforts to turn back the clock on the 21st century can only be addressed with a democracy powerful enough to counteract autocrats<\/a> like them.<\/p>\n They are also displaying with inspiring clarity that democracy<\/a> cannot be taken for granted. Democracy<\/a> is not a spectator sport. It\u2019s not what governments do. Democracy is what people do.<\/p>\n Ukrainians are reminding us that democracy survives only if people are willing to sacrifice for it. … You may have to knock on hundreds of doors to get out the vote. Or organize thousands to make your voices heard. And stand up against the powerful who don\u2019t want your voices heard. You may have to fight a war to protect democracy from those who would destroy<\/a> it.<\/p>\n The people of Ukraine are also reminding us that democracy is the single most important legacy we have inherited from previous generations who strengthened it and who risked their lives to preserve it. It will be the most significant legacy we leave to future generations \u2013 unless we allow it to be suppressed by those who fear it, or we become too complacent to care.<\/p>\n Putin and Trump have convinced me I was wrong about how far we had come in the 21st century. Technology, globalization and modern systems<\/a> of governance<\/a> haven\u2019t altered the ways of tyranny. But I, like millions of others around the world, have been inspired by the Ukrainian people \u2013 who are reteaching us lessons we once knew.”<\/p>\n aus: Robert Reich: Putin and Trump have convinced me: I was wrong about the 21st century, The Guardian online, 13.3.22, im Internet<\/a>.<\/p>\n