Grappling with the Broad Historical Questions

Samuel Huntington's "the clash of civilizations" thesis might be criticized, but it's hard to deny its empirical truth.  Look at what is happening in the "torn state" of Ukraine.  Robert Merry in the National Interest wonders if Washington these days is even capable of asking the necessary questions on what the new world order should look like.  Instead, the capital just seems to sleepwalk through policy decisions made years ago.   See his provocative piece in the National Interest here:  http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/the-slow-death-the-old-global-order-10247?page=1

Is this the worse mess since the 1930s, as William Pfaff recently asked?   I do not think there is any great power that is fundamentally revolutionary, as we had in the Thirties.  Russia is trying to defend its sphere of influence; not overturn the world order.  But we do have a lot of issues on the plate lately.