A Decline in Courage…  … may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West in our days. The Western world has lost its civil courage, both as a whole  and separately, in each country, each government, each political party and of course in the United Nations. Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling groups and the intellectual elite, causing an impression of loss of courage by the entire society. Of course there are many courageous individuals but they have no determining influence on public life. Political and intellectual bureaucrats show depression, passivity and perplexity in their actions and in their statements and even  more so in theoretical reflections to explain how realistic, reasonable as well as intellectually and even morally warranted it is to base state policies on weakness and cowardice. /…/ Should one point out that from ancient times decline in courage has been considered the beginning of the end?