What is behind the American-led war in Iraq? Has the long and uninterrupted march towards globalization and world economic interdependence reached a zenith and begun to regress? What will be the consequences for the United States and for the world? The author explains the fundamental shift that foreign and domestic policies have taken under George W. Bush, since September 11, 2001. Besides attempting to focus a critical light on the new international geopolitical situation against the backdrop of the war in Iraq, the book adopts the larger perspective of the evolution of Western civilization over the last five and a half centuries, that is, since the fall of Constantinople in 1453.