When we examine the relationship between civilizations, one should first of all make a clear distinction between State actors, which do have the right and the capacity for political action, and cultural spheres of variable scale and cohesion, which do not. As the excellent American analyst, William Pfaff observed: "None of these civilizations, rather arbitrarily defined, is or ever was, as such, a political actor or a political entity. Nations act. Governments wage wars. But civilizations are not political units and there is no hint that they will ever become one". This does not mean, far from it, as one will see it hereafter, an underestimation of cultural and identity-related factors.

“Europe pays the price of her usual cowardice and, once again, the majority of the politicians only think of capitulating. However, on the long run, it is like adding fuel to the fire.” The more so as “the agitation of today is merely an episode in an infinitely broader power struggle.”