Lars Moller writes for the American Thinker about serious challenges to Western civilization.

The twentieth century tested the strength of civilization to the limit. As Westerners indebted to Roman law and Erasmus of Rotterdam humanism, we barely survived the mortal challenges of Bolshevism and Nazism. Like the ancient Greeks, the founders of democracy who had to go to war with the Persians time and time again, we faced the threat of final annihilation. It was touch and go. …

… This time, however, we may finally have had it. The threat to the survival of civilization comes from several sides. It may indeed be suspected that the enemies of the West have been making their secret preparations for a long time. Enemies of openness and freedom, the totalitarian forces preferably work under the cover of darkness because their long-term visions and undermining business conflict with the tenets of a democratic social order and the rule of law.

The balance of power in the world is changing. The West as, not only the cradle, but also the sanctuary, of freedom is yielding to the dark forces of totalitarianism. The light of hope that spread in the entire world after the collapse of the Soviet empire is once again giving way to darkness. The enemy is as confident as ever, sensing weakness like any other predator; allied shock troops from near and far are on the move, preparing for the final push. While we are being eaten up from within, as it were, by the peacefully disguised enemy — who has infiltrated us since the end of World War II, gradually displacing our fundamental principles of freedom and undermining the cohesion of society — we are threatened at gunpoint from without by his co-conspirators. …

… The present-day alliance forged against the West consists of (a) Eastern European revanchists, (b) Middle Eastern Islamists, and (c) Far Eastern communists. Although a triad of widely disparate conspirators, they are the united enemies of the “open society” — in other words, united by the fight against a common enemy rather than anything else. They form a fearsome criminal cartel all the same.