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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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Since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 many Western gurus have suggested that history has come to its logical end. There was no viable political alternative to the existing new order of growing democracies, there was no viable economic alternative to the free market mechanisms and above all, there was no cultural alternative to the liberal values, established in the West. There could be no substantial development ahead and thus the history as a process has come to its end. The only thing billions of people around the world could do was to wait until the following tides of globalization bring to them all these precious stones of the modern life.

Suddenly 2 years ago we understood that none of these predictions was true. There was no iron rule bringing the democratic order at the top, there was no automatism making the market economy universal, and above all, there were some cultural movements in the world that saw in the West not a guiding light, but a mortal enemy. As a matter of fact, these trends existed well before 9/11; communism and the fascism were powerful forces in the middle of the 20th century not just because they have created formidable war machines, but also because they projected their cultural influences far beyond their political reach. After 1991 many have thought that finally all the other alternatives were exhausted. The Soviet Union collapsed long after all communists' parties in the West have embraced some democratic alternatives.

In short, the 90's were very quiet decade for the western ideological gurus. Communist China was a country embracing market economy, even Iran wasn't considered as an equal ideological enemy. There were many hot spots around the world, but none of them was ready to give the world new alternative to the Western New order, as did the October Revolution in 1917. The anti-globalization movement so fearlessly attacking this order so far hasn't produced any global ideological alternative to the status quo.

Then came 9/11 and many Westerners suddenly understood that the history wasn't over; that the short period after 1991 was just an interlude between two different worlds. All that seemed so certain and effective in the past suddenly came under attack, not an attack by the terrorists, but attack by our own mind, desperately trying to look far ahead in the future. What will come next? What will the new world be in 10, 20, 30 years? Are we at the doorstep of new golden age for the whole humanity or are we living the last years of the last golden age?

A hundred years ago people tried to predict what the new 20th century would look like. Not only in terms of technology, but also in terms of human development. Many believed it would be more humane than the previous one. The reason would replace the instincts and the humanity will live its golden age, they thought. For some it was indeed a golden age, but for many others, it was a permanent holocaust.

Now we have a golden opportunity, facing the evil that wants our total destruction, to reconsider all our precious thoughts and forecasts. Some of them may still hold, but others won't face the new realities. In fact who could predict 20 years ago that the typing machine would disappear replaced by the PC?

If we really want to preserve our democracies, our liberal values and our market economies, until we find something better to live with, we must be ready to defend what we have now, not only with our arms but also with our minds, and not just sit down and wait until they are destroyed. The history is far from over.