the end of the west?

"Today, racial hatred and bloody collisions ravage the world where liberal democracy and capitalism were expected to jointly reign."

"The result is endless insurgencies and counter-insurgencies, wars and massacres, "

This was from a provocative and long essay by Pankaj Mishra in today's Guardian. Side by side, there was an accompanying piece, sadder in tone, by George Monbiot and how loneliness was an outcome of the playing out of the pernicious governing assumptions about what is fundamental to the human condition.

Now, there are lots of good and valid points in both pieces but Mishra's doom porn just doesn't wash. I mean, just look at the language: "Ravage the world". Er..yeah, like compared to when?

It's an uncomfortable fact that so many in China and India-and not just the educated elite-have embraced capitalism (not saying that that's a good thing, but it does dent Mishra's thesis somewhat).  And though it doesn't make the headlines the fact remains that most of the political parties in Pakistan are secular (incompetent and corrupt, but secular) and that of those who vote do so-overwhelmingly-for these parties.

The truth, it seems to me, is that democracy and capitalism (or versions of them) are the only games in town...