A terrifying new reality?

[WVdemocrat]

A Terrifying New Reality?
or Is the World Falling Apart?

In the last few years, we have seen far-right populists make gains in Europe, and now in America, which previously seemed insulated from the ever-shifting political sands of the world. Fascism seems to be resurgent, at least in a toned-down form.

The nihilistic ideology of ISIS has attracted many followers in the West. Many of these people are disaffected outcasts of society. The shocking failure of the Arab Spring to produce any meaningful permanent liberalization (and instead an Arab Winter) and the anarchy that has now overrun large parts of the region have soundly rejected the prevailing geopolitical thought of the past half-century. The threat of random, unpredictable terrorist attacks now seems greater than ever with these nihilistic sentiments being echoed in the form of right-wing populists like Marine Le Pen, UKIP, and Donald Trump.

These two terrifying shifts are dangerously intertwined, with the anarchism, brutality, and barbarism of ISIS spurring a growing migrant crisis in Europe which has led to widespread racist and authoritarian sentiments in Europe and now America. This paranoid and tribal backlash has resulted in rising euroscepticism and nationalism. It was just a few years ago that transnational communities such as the EU, built on a shared belief in democracy and peace, seemed like the way of the future, the nation-state a thing of the past. This now seems to have been wishful thinking.

In the United States, fascism is on the march. Donald Trump and his brownshirts regularly threaten political violence, prey on people's fears, and shamelessly provoke racial tensions. He has deliberately undermined faith in our democracy, begun hiring "election observers" to intimidate voters, and his campaign apparently has strong ties to Vladimir Putin and his crony Viktor Yanukovych. He sings the praises of autocrats like Putin who similarly enjoy sowing fear and chaos around the world, and threatens our allies. He threatens our allies by expressing support for abandoning NATO, NAFTA, and the WTO, and refusing to rule out deploying nuclear weapons in Europe. He has asked before, why, if we have nuclear weapons, can we not use them?

Between the ascendant alt-right and the nihilistic ideology of ISIS, is there are growing sentiment in the world (the West and beyond) to just burn it all down (so-to-speak)? The social advancement of the post-WW2 world threatens to be undone by fear, global uncertainty, and resurgent fascism. The West continues down the path of political devolution and the Arab world has collapsed into uncertainty, poverty, and violence. Thoughts?

(This was not meant to be a fearmongering post, but the recent shifts in the geopolitical sands of the world are truly terrifying.)