Terrorism is surely a godsend for politicians around the world. The indefatigable and virtually indestructible enemy in the Orwellian "perpetual war". You can trick the public into accepting anything - from compulsory identification to banning mineral water and eye drops in your cabin luggage on airplanes.
In our living memory, it was the long-time favourites, the Soviets. They lasted nearly seven decades to help instil mass neuroses into Western public and keep them on the edge, slaving and consuming, ever afraid of the Red Threat. With the collapse of Communism came a period of soul-searching, when the Yellow Peril from Japan was succeeded by the Yellow Peril from China. Upon realizing that those two are too important as trade partners, there was a period. The world community's spin doctors were hiccuping. Then, all out of sudden, we were presented with a new enemy of choice - those evil Moslems - and by extension, from the dusty coffers of where the Crusades, anti-Turkish coalitions and Orientalism were dumped - came Islam, the new "ideology of evil".
This is a true godsend because it can be used interminably, the Orwellian ideal has finally been achieved. Finally, we have omnipresent ever-conniving adversaries that have infiltrated our own backyard. They are easy to spot, because of their beards, funny clothes and strange choice of in-flight meals, yet it is quite PC to peck on them as they are not Blacks or Asians.
And yet, as the actual reason of the so called North-South conflict (as opposed to the East-West confrontation in the Cold War) - the unequal distribution of wealth in the world - is here to stay, we have to be prepared for our new foe to be jerked out of spin doctors' box of tricks every time they powers that be need to pass an unpopular law or divert our attention from actual problems at home.
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