158 International Relations Theory of War
countries. The ironical result may be interpreted as a kind of unintentional
formation of “historical justice” because Europe, which had left the Mid-
dle East at the end of the Second World War after decades of financially
plundering the region and its residents, now has to accept the descendants
of its former subjects.
The 9/11 attacks led to a broadening of U.S. influence in the Middle
East, disrupted the regional balance of power, and caused the Arab Spring
to break out. However, the consequences of the terrorist attack were not
confined to the Middle East. It would seem that the attempt to spread lib-
eral democracy in the Arab-Muslim world has not only been unsuccessful,
but to a great extent it may also be identified as one of the factors that have
resulted in decaying of these values in the Western world itself.
What should be called “Western Winter” that is developing in the
mostly rich, free, and democratic Northern Hemisphere, is characterized
by a comprehensive liberal movement that is transforming into a right-
wing fascist direction and a left-wing anti-global direction. The plight that
Western liberal democracy is facing is disrupting the existing order, as
demonstrated by the rise of right-wing powers and xenophobic parties
in Europe and Brexit, the United Kingdom’s secession from the European
Union. The echoes of this bang also crossed the ocean toward the United
States and manifested in a hateful struggle between opposing factions in
the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign.
To complete the picture, two other important changes in the inter-
national scene should be mentioned. The first is the rise in the import-
ance of nonstate entities in the international scene. These include terrorist
organizations such as Al Qaeda, which perpetrated the 9/11 attacks, with
its manifold consequences, and the Islamic State and the pre-biblical state
model that it established, as well as individuals such as Julian Assange, the
founder of the Wikileaks Web site that released information that strained
relations between the United States and many of its friends, and Edward
Snowden, the leaker of the secret surveillance plans of the U.S. National
Security Agency, which influenced processes in U.S. foreign policy and the
politics of the United States itself.
The second significant change is the transition from traditional, slow,
and regulated media to new, rapid, and universally accessible media. The
Arab Spring events in the Middle East region proved that social networks
are capable of mobilizing large crowds to rise up and demonstrate and
even overthrow regimes. The abortive coup attempts in Turkey also dem-
onstrated that regimes may use social media to retain their power. For
example, President Recep Tayyip Erdog ̆ an utilized the masses to defend
his regime by real-time video broadcasting.
Going back to the Middle East reveals that the region, which has been
managed in the last 100 years based on the Sykes-Picot Agreement and
the principles of the European nation-states that developed after the