The 21st century began with 9/11, says Tharoor.

A New Kind of War

Shashi Tharoor: There’s no question that our . . . Just as Eric __________, the historian, said that the 20th century began with the assassination of the Archduke in Sarajevo that triggered off the First World War, so too one could say that the 21st century began with 9/11. Because it’s . . . It’s transformed the way in which governments have reacted – especially the U.S., but other governments too – to the threats and the dangers in the world in which we live not always for the wisest or for the best; but it’s therefore left a mark and a shape on the kind of world we live in. Everything from the kinds of airport security we have now . . . We live in a world where you can’t carry a bottle of water through the security check. I mean it’s crazy. But it’s also part of the ways in which the war against terror, or the fear of terrorism – whatever you want to call it – daily impacts our lives in ways that can’t be escaped.

Recorded on: 9/18/07