By the time this issue is published, it will be exactly ten years since the September 11 attacks. This summer's tragic events have cast a certain light on the long-term damage that these terrorist attacks have caused the Western world, while at the same time showing the strength of the open, democratic society.

Ten years after the attack on New York, we note that bin Laden has succeeded in achieving one of his goals: to bring the United States to its knees. George W. Bush's war on terror was much more drawn out and costly than predicted. According to research from Brown University in late June of this year, the economic cost of the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan so far is an astronomical 25 trillion dollars. According to the same study, the interest payments on the loans that have financed these wars so far come to one trillion dollars. Although the U.S. financial crisis, of course, has much more complex, structural causes than wars, the fact remains...