Solzhenitsyn Foresaw Tests of Western Courage

Solzhenitsyn Foresaw Tests of Western Courage

Many gifted writers have written retrospectives about the five-year anniversary of Sept. 11 and have asked what our country has learned, if anything, from the last five years of war with Islamic fascists.

One of the most important questions that has been asked in this bout of introspection is: Does the West actually believe in its stated values, and does it have the will to defend them in the current struggle?

In examining this question, I could only think of the stark contrast between Alexaksandr Solzhenitsyn's commencement address in 1978 and last week's speech by former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami at Harvard. The contrast between the two messages is that between wounds from a friend and kisses from an enemy.

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