Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is the Greatest Diplomat
Sergey Lavrov: The 500-year-long era of the West’s global dominance is over."
Well, first, it's obvious where your loyalties and affections lie, perhaps not so surprising considering how treasonous US public education can be these days.
Second, your word "neo-con" is out of place and meaningless in this context.
The key fact about "neo-cons" is that they began life as Democrats, "who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist Democratic Party and with the growing New Left and counterculture of the 1960s, particularly the Vietnam protests."
I've never been a Democrat, never voted for a Democrat, have always voted as conservatively as possible.
Fair to say, I was conservative before you were born, FRiend.
When I was a boy, "Mr. Conservative" was Ohio Sen. Robert Taft, and he remains the definition of conservative in my book:
- "Taft's greatest prominence during his first term came not from his fight against the New Deal but rather from his vigorous opposition to US involvement in the Second World War.
A staunch non-interventionist, Taft believed that America should avoid any involvement in European or Asian wars and concentrate instead on solving its domestic problems.
He believed that a strong military, combined with the natural geographic protection of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, would be adequate to protect America even if Germany overran all of Europe.
Between the outbreak of war in September 1939, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Taft opposed nearly all attempts to aid countries fighting Germany.
That brought him strong criticism from many liberal Republicans, such as 1940 presidential nominee Wendell Willkie, who felt that America could best protect itself by supporting the British and their allies.
Although Taft fully supported the American war effort after Pearl Harbor, he continued to harbor a deep suspicion of American involvement in postwar military alliances, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Taft was the only representative to speak in opposition to Japanese-American internment.[29]"
- "Following Eisenhower's election [1952] and the Republican takeover of Congress, Taft served as Senate Majority Leader in 1953, and he strongly supported Eisenhower's domestic proposals.
He worked hard to assist the inexperienced new officials of the administration.
He even tried, with little success, to curb the excesses of red-baiting US Senator Joseph McCarthy.
By April, Eisenhower and Taft were friends and golfing companions, and Taft was praising his former adversary.
Defeat in 1952, it seemed, had softened Taft.
No longer burdened by presidential ambitions, he had become less partisan, less abrasive, and more conciliatory; he was now widely regarded as the most powerful man in Congress."
Both were relatively conservative and neither was a "neo-con".
Both believed in deterrence and "Peace through strength".
That is conservatism as I've always understood it, and has nothing to do with Democrat "neo-cons".
As for Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov, he is, of course, entitled to his own opinions, but the fact remains his forecast of the "Death of the West" is still highly premature.
This reminds me of Aragorn's speech before the Black Gate of Mordor:
"Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers.
I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me.
A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day.
An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day!
This day we fight!
By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!"