The division of Western Civilization into Two I have pondered for a long time whether to publish this note or not. In any case, I write only about what interests me. Therefore, I will risk offering my commentary on the current international political situation. And as is obvious to all of us, there are different dimensions to the global situation. Events can be viewed as a conflict between "globalist elites and clans," or based on the geopolitical interests of nations, or from a religious conflict, or civilizational confrontation. In any case, this will be just another interpretation of our social reality. The catalyst for this reflection was the complaints of American arms manufacturers about Europe's refusal to allow their participation in the continent's rearmament. This economic conflict, in my view, clearly indicates a trend toward the fragmentation of Western civilization. Just as the Roman Empire once split into Eastern and Western parts, today the United States and the European Union are increasingly diverging mentally and economically. I believe this process was initiated by the Obama administration in 2011, gradually drifting toward the idea of Realpolitik in relations with the world - especially after Europe's refusal to sign the transatlantic trade agreement aimed at unifying markets. Subsequently, the Biden administration only intensified these tendencies with an openly infantile foreign policy. One could endlessly list American geopolitical failures under Trump and Biden, but their essence boils down to the idea that the U.S. needs nothing from the world (paradoxically) except money. This belief unites both Democrats and Republicans - what might be called a "brilliant isolation" akin to the British Empire. Historically, the British, leveraging their island status, supported different nations in their conflicts, playing a role of a distant power that provided protection for pay. Realpolitik ultimately led the world into the First World War and nearly destroyed the British Empire. But who cares about that today? If a united Europe views modern wars as a matter of values, ideas, and politics, Americans see these conflicts as simplified gangland disputes and dirty capitalist dealings - where strong guys take money and property from weaker ones. Based on this logic, to prevent the weak from ending up in such situations, they should respect the strong gang leaders, pay tribute, and not oppose them. I believe this is precisely how U.S. geopolitics under Biden and Trump perceives global issues. Therefore, Americans are unlikely to resolve conflicts involving Russia and Ukraine, China and Taiwan, Iran and Israel, Indonesia and China, and so forth. While the European value-based approach is generally understandable and logical from the standpoint of bourgeois socialism's dogma, American logic appears overly simplistic and contradictory. When General Driscoll was scaring Europe and Ukraine that they would lose the war to Russia, he forgot to mention that it was the United States that lost the war in Afghanistan to 12,000 barefoot people on motorcycles. They fled from South Vietnam, Lebanon, and so on. The Americans also too often turned off their long-range smart weapons to the Europeans, Ukrainians, and Israelis, doing everything so that Russia or Iran would not lose completely. This fits into the logic of gangsters drug-related shootouts on the streets, but unfortunately in the rest of the world, it spoils the already bad reputation of the United States as an unreliable ally and partner, seller of promises with a very short shelf life. As some European journalists joke: It's only a matter of time before the Americans start selling weapons to Iran and Russia. But it's true. Most likely it will be. Rome should not help Constantinople and vice versa. Why is this? In my view, the answer lies in America's new worldview. Since the U.S. is far from the old centers of civilization, processes of island mentality have begun to dominate there, as in Australia. Military conflicts are seen as simplified gang disputes, with Americans playing the role of yet another group offering protection for pay to featherheaded allies. All this happens "over there," across the "beautiful ocean," and thus has no direct connection to domestic politics, say Democrats and Republicans. Simultaneously, the U.S. displays blatant disregard for Europe, believing - according to the administration - that the EU is weak and refuses to submit to the rules of stronger gangsters. The paradox is that the rules of gentlemen apply only to gentlemen and are written solely for them. It's unclear why Europe should listen to or obey American gangsters. All this creates a profound value and ideological conflict, centered on a simple question: what is the true understanding of Western civilization? Americans confidence in the infallibility of their gangster-style "deals" only demonstrates their helplessness and lack of understanding of the planet they live on. How can they make deals when the conflicts they speak of have existed longer than the U.S. itself? These conflicts are rooted in religious, colonial, and mental contradictions. Modern experience shows that treaties signed with the U.S. last at most 3-4 years before a new administration comes in. That's why Europeans no longer trust the bipolar American foreign policy. The U.S. is no longer part of a single transatlantic civilizational space and cannot bring anything to a logical conclusion. Europeans have recognized and accepted this fact. America is a different version of the West, with different values and a different geopolitical moral paradigm. From this new reality, it appears that the U.S. simply mirrors the external world without any coherent strategy. During the "Cold War," the U.S. mirrored the conflict of "values." During the globalization of markets, it mirrored "globalization" and liberal values. With the rise of dictatorships and autocracies, the U.S. mirrors autocracies. Therefore, I dare suggest that the fundamental civilizational difference between the "American West" and the "European West" lies in their understanding of the very essence and role of Western civilization in the world. Europeans believe that Western civilization is rooted in bourgeois-communist values and ideals, while Americans believe it is about "free markets" without institutions and with private interests as the raison d'etre. In any case, an internal conflict of values, goals, and ideas is evident. I believe it's only a matter of time before this confrontation escalates into a more acute phase - akin to the wars between Rome and Constantinople, or between "dealmakers" and "socialists." These two worlds, these two centers of power, are increasingly drifting apart. Too many civilizational contradictions have accumulated between them. I am genuinely convinced that there are now two Western civilizations: a "Western" and an "Eastern" version.