by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
National Review Online<\/em><\/p>\n From the heights of Gibraltar you can see Africa about nine miles away to the south \u2014 and gaze eastward on the seemingly endless Mediterranean, which stretches 2,400 miles to Asia.\u00a0Mare Nostrum<\/em>, \u201cour sea,\u201d the Romans called the deep blue waters that allowed Rome to unite Asia, Africa, and Europe for half a millennium under a single, prosperous, globalized civilization.<\/p>\n Yet the Mediterranean has not always proved to be history\u2019s incubator of great civilizations \u2014 Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, Florentine, and Venetian. Sometimes the ancient \u201cPillars of Hercules\u201d at the narrow mouth of the Mediterranean here at Gibraltar marked not so much a gateway to progress and prosperity as a cultural and commercial cul-de-sac.<\/p>\n With the rise of the Ottoman Empire, the old city-state powerhouses of Italy and Greece faded from history, as the Mediterranean became more a museum than a catalyst of global change. In contrast, the Reformation and the Enlightenment energized Northern European culture, safely distant from the front line of the exhausting wars with Islam.<\/p>\n By the early 17th century, Northern Europeans more easily and safely reached the rich eastern markets of China and India by maritime routes around Africa. The discovery of the New World further shifted wealth and cultural dynamism out of the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n For a while the Mediterranean seemed to roar back after World War II. Huge deposits of petroleum and natural gas were found in North Africa. The Suez Canal was a shortcut to the newly opulent and strategically vital Persian Gulf. With the unification of Europe and the ongoing decolonization of Africa and the Middle East, there was the promise of a new, resource-rich, democratic, and commercially interconnected Mediterranean.<\/p>\n Not now. The Arab Spring has brought chaos to almost all of North Africa. The bloodbath in Syria threatens to escalate into something like the Spanish Civil War \u2014 sucking in Lebanese militias, Iranian mercenaries, Turkey, the Sunni sheikdoms, Israel, and the Palestinians, along with surrogate arms suppliers like China, Europe, Russia, and the United States.<\/p>\n The economies of the Islamic rim of the Mediterranean are in shambles. But then so is the southern flank of the European Union, as Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain haggle for subsidies and loans from an increasingly fed-up Northern Europe. New gas and oil finds in North America, China, and Africa may soon make both Mediterranean supplies and Suez passage to the Persian Gulf irrelevant for a billion energy consumers.<\/p>\n A shrinking and aging Europe keeps drawing in young Muslim immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa. They want out of their impoverished Islamic homelands but are being consumed by, rather than enriching, the wealthier European societies that they are drawn to like moths to a flame. The recent rioting in Sweden, the gruesome near-beheading of a soldier in London, and periodic unrest in the French suburbs all remind us that the Mediterranean is not a shared postmodern vacation spot. Instead it is increasingly a stagnant premodern pond of religious, political, and economic tensions.<\/p>\n Unrest in the West Bank, Gaza, Cyprus, Syria, Libya, and Egypt could at any moment spark violence that cuts across religious, racial, and political fault lines. Yet otherwise, these tired hotspots are immaterial to a world that from Shanghai, Mumbai, and Seoul to Palo Alto, Houston, London, and Frankfurt is creating vast new wealth, technologies, and consumer goods \u2014 without much of a nod to Mediterranean science or innovation.<\/p>\n The old strategic fortresses at Cyprus, Crete, Sicily, Malta, and Gibraltar are becoming inconsequential, as the United States pivots to Asia. The Cold War is long over. Europe has all but disarmed. Meanwhile, the societies on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean are coming apart at the seams.<\/p>\n It is hard to find a robust free-market economy anywhere in the Mediterranean world these days. Instead, European socialism, Arab statism, and Islamic terrorism in various ways are retarding commerce and growth. Tourism \u2014 with visitors gazing at ancient rather than modern wonders \u2014 is more profitable than manufacturing.<\/p>\n Will the Mediterranean world rebound again? History is cyclical, not linear, and the region\u2019s favorable climate and opportune geography suggest that it could.<\/p>\n But, before we see another Mediterranean renaissance, constitutional government would have to sweep the Muslim world. The fossilized bureaucracy of the European Union would have to radically reform or disappear. A new generation of Michelangelos and Leonardos\u00a0would have to believe that they could think, say, and write whatever they wished \u2014 in a climate of economic confidence, prosperity, and security.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the culture of the Mediterranean is reverting to its stagnant 18th-century past rather than leading the 21st century.<\/p>\n Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. His new book,\u00a0<\/em>The Savior Generals<\/a><\/span>,\u00a0is just out from Bloomsbury Books.<\/em><\/em>\u00a0You can reach him by e-mailing\u00a0author@victorhanson.com<\/a>. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a9 2013 Tribune Media Services, Inc.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Socialism and Islamism don’t foster a climate of economic growth and security. by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online From the heights of Gibraltar you can see Africa about nine miles away to the south \u2014 and gaze eastward on the seemingly endless Mediterranean, which stretches 2,400 miles to Asia.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[282,847,121,99],"tags":[540,598,119,612,390,1028,331,628,374,1056,1068],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1zc","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7765,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/a-quiet-mediterranean\/","url_meta":{"origin":6026,"position":0},"title":"A Quiet Mediterranean?","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"An unusual calm for history\u2019s constant cauldron. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online From the deck of a ship on the Mediterranean, the islands that pass by appear as calm as the weather. Huge yachts, not warships, are docked in island ports. I haven\u2019t seen a naval officer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Culture","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"USS Nimitz underway in the Mediterranean Sea (Seaman Raul Moreno Jr.)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/pic_giant_081214_SM_Nimitz2-500x291.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":894,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-sick-man-of-europe\/","url_meta":{"origin":6026,"position":1},"title":"The Sick Man of Europe","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Defining Ideas Why are the Greeks such whiners? Look to their tragic history and geography.\u00a0 Not long ago, European Union bankers gave the Greeks a \u20ac110 billion bailout \u2014 along with stern recommendations to stop cooking their books, to go after tax cheaters, to trim fat\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/europe\/economy-europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5914,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/an-irrelevant-middle-east\/","url_meta":{"origin":6026,"position":2},"title":"An Irrelevant Middle East","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanks to oil discoveries elsewhere, the region is losing its geostrategic clout. by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online Since antiquity, the Middle East has been the trading nexus of three continents \u2014 Asia, Europe, and Africa \u2014 and the vibrant birthplace of three of the world\u2019s great religions. Middle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/europe\/economy-europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12150,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/strategika-issue-62-is-the-mediterranean-still-geo-strategically-essential\/","url_meta":{"origin":6026,"position":3},"title":"Strategika Issue 62: Is the Mediterranean Still Geo-strategically Essential?","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Is The Mediterranean Still Geo-Strategically Essential? Please read a new essay by my colleague, Barry Strauss\u00a0in Strategika. The Mediterranean Sea is today, as it has always been, a crossroads. The name itself testifies to that, as it means \u201cthe sea in the middle of the earth,\u201d a Latin term reflecting\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10671,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-axis-was-outmatched-from-the-start\/","url_meta":{"origin":6026,"position":4},"title":"The Axis Was Outmatched from the Start","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review \u00a0 Hitler and his Axis cohorts couldn\u2019t match their enemies\u2019 resources to begin with. That they learned all the wrong lessons from military history while the Allies learned all the right ones doomed them. \u00a0 Editor\u2019s Note: The following is the second in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "War"","block_context":{"text":"War","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/war\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10684,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-deadly-cost-of-mutual-misunderstanding\/","url_meta":{"origin":6026,"position":5},"title":"The Deadly Cost of Mutual Misunderstanding","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review \u00a0 Hitler went to war without an accurate conception of the Allies\u2019 strength. The Allies did the same without an accurate conception of Hitler\u2019s ambition. Unprecedented bloodshed ensued. Editor\u2019s Note: The following is the third in a series of excerpts adapted from Victor Davis\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "War"","block_context":{"text":"War","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/war\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6026"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6026"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6028,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6026\/revisions\/6028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}