A woman walks past a billboard of Israeli hostages in Jerusalem, on Oct. 6, 2025. ((Credit: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)
A world died on Oct. 7, 2023. Or perhaps it had started to die long before.Perhaps it was on Sept. 11, 2001, when the 21st century burst into being with all that would come to define it: the reign of immediacy, emotion and image; the thirst for revenge among the “humiliated”; the frenzied race toward disinformation; the use of terror as a political weapon; the end of “happy globalization”; and the resurgence of religion under new forms.Or perhaps it was on March 20, 2003, when the world’s sole superpower decided to invade another country based on a lie, wiping its feet on international law and sending an unmistakable message to all who might be tempted to follow: force once more trumped law.Or on Aug. 31, 2013, when the United States chose not to intervene, failing to enforce the “red line” Barack Obama had drawn for Bashar al-Assad over...
A world died on Oct. 7, 2023. Or perhaps it had started to die long before.Perhaps it was on Sept. 11, 2001, when the 21st century burst into being with all that would come to define it: the reign of immediacy, emotion and image; the thirst for revenge among the “humiliated”; the frenzied race toward disinformation; the use of terror as a political weapon; the end of “happy globalization”; and the resurgence of religion under new forms.Or perhaps it was on March 20, 2003, when the world’s sole superpower decided to invade another country based on a lie, wiping its feet on international law and sending an unmistakable message to all who might be tempted to follow: force once more trumped law.Or on Aug. 31, 2013, when the United States chose not to intervene, failing to enforce the “red line” Barack Obama had drawn for Bashar...