Clarification

Let me rephrase something: it is only my pessimism about the possibility of an international, Kantian world-republic that leads me to say things like "The battle of civilization against terrorist barbery itself inevitably becomes barbaric. The price the West has always had to pay for wealth, security and democracy has been the blood of others. But I can't see any other way." My apologies for such a wild statement: I sound as if I believe that the "slaughter-house of history" justifies itself by the fruits of civilization. We can't believe such simplistic things anymore. I owe a clarification:

Israel does have the right to protect its democratic political institutions from radical religious terror. But it must curb its violence as the humanitarian consequences of this struggle are beginning to mount. It must not bring Lebanon 20 years back into the past.