September 11, 2001.

"When the world changed," the common wisdom goes. In a way, this is true. Many had not anticipated the sheer magnitude of the atrocious attacks of 9/11. Before there was a false feeling of security, magnified by the collapse of the Soviet bloc ten years back. Some had declared "the end of history." All those theories and perceptions must disappear with the WTC twin towers.

There emerged a new theory of how to deal with the rising threat of Islamic terrorism. It was adopted to a large extent, after the 9/11 attacks, by the Bush administration in the US and Tony Blair in the UK. In essence, it states that the reason behind the terror attacks is the fascist ideology adopted by the terrorists. It follows that the West must confront the terrorists as close to their havens as possible. Yet, the old theory is still around. In short, it states the following: the terrorists attack the West since they are grieved by Western policies. For its internal consistency, it also proposes that what goes on in under their rule is a matter of culture, and thus should not be a basis for the West's foreign policy. A plethora of conspiracy theories surround these ideas, ranging from "oil conspiracies" to "world domination conspiracies." Interestingly, this is also what terrorists say by and large, so the adherents of this theory have in effect surrenderd to the terrorist logic. Today, there is a fierce battle of ideas between these two theories, on different levels of our social and political lives.

The old theory was thoroughly discredited by the events of 9/11--or one would think it should have. Many still stick to their falsified ideas. Some conspiracy-theorists among them even think that 9/11 itself was the working of the US government.

This is an imminent danger to the West as we know it today. The same mode of thinking gave in to the 9/11 attacks. To prevent a second, deadlier 9/11 and in order to survive the lethal challenge of Islamofascist terrorism, the free world must completely discard its old, falsified theories.