The underlying assumption behind US foreign policy has been the belief that fear and greed of the ruling class, rather than ideals, is the fuel that runs the motor of international relations. Consequently, US, in common with other powers, has followed the old stick and carrot approach in international relations, rather than the sociological and ethical approach as the best minds and noblest hearts of the world, both Western and Eastern, recommend. In effect, this means that US policy makers have seldom bothered to go to the roots of international conflicts or the social economic determinants of religious fundamentalism. The leadership of the backward and deprived segments of the human family, also does not go to the roots of conflict and takes to religious fundamentalism as a means of escape from harsh reality and as a tool of attack upon the perceived 'enemies of God'. If the secular technocrats are certain of triumph without any need of Divine blessings, the religious fundamentalists are equally certain that Divine retribution will overtake and defeat all evil. I submit, both are clinging to illusions.

The crucial point here is that even if we accept (for the sake of argument) that the religious line of thought is true, it is not true in the sense in which religious fundamentalists take it as true. Allah's help will not come unless Muslims first rightly understand the right import of Allah's commands and guidance and then also act accordingly. In practical terms this means that Muslims will succeed only when they have a correct road map of the territory concerned and they actually travel or move accordingly rather than just beat the drum that theirs is the 'best map in the world. It is here that religious fundamentalism comes crashing to the ground. I have no doubt that any religion or faith that divides the human family into 'we and they', believers and nonbelievers, the saved and the damned does not provide us with the right or correct road map, no matter how brave and sincere the leaders and followers of the religion concerned.

To sum up, neither the power of the gun, nor the power of money, nor the power of ideological illusion (religious or secular) can help humanity without right knowledge followed by right action. And this implies a critical and balanced understanding of the human situation in the light of natural and social sciences and also true insight into the human psyche in its full depth.

History teaches us that the course of the human story is never straight and unilinear, but full of twists and turns as a result of which good comes out of evil and evil out of good. History is replete with such reverse eddies of good and evil within a broad mainstream of events leading to the preservation and accretion of good in the broad sense. The ongoing stream of history, however, follows some psychological and social laws just as natural phenomena follow some inbuilt sequences or observed inter-connections. Careful analysis of history shows that these twists and turns happen because human agents can never be sure that their voluntary actions will have the exact intended consequences without any admixture of unintended results. Many a time quite unintended consequences enter into the ongoing stream of events. And the unintended consequences are so potent that they even undo or negate (partly or wholly) the intended goal or objective of the agent or agents. This is the phenomenon of 'reverse result through recoil'. When this happens an evil action turns into a 'catalytic agent' for producing some good that the agent had not envisioned at all.

This reverse effect happens in sufficiently large numbers to suggest the hypothesis that there is some inbuilt tendency in the web of ongoing events to check evil and promote good. This belief or 'faith' that the nexus of history, broadly speaking, produces and promotes good fortifies the human quest for value, though this does not constitute any evidence for 'hard' Theism, or the belief that history is written by the 'Hand of God', However, we can say that 'hard' history does not preclude or contradict a 'soft' faith that the movement of history preserves and promotes the good.

Let me give just two instances in recent times of reverse effects through recoil. Hitler brazenly violated human dignity, universal morality and international norms through his atrocities on millions of innocent human beings. Great Britain and France challenged the dictator. Hitler won battle after battle but Churchill won the war after active intervention of US and the untold sacrifice and bravery of the Russian people. The Allies achieved their war aim, but some unintended consequences also followed. The economies of Britain and France were crippled and they became dependent upon American aid. Moreover, the Indian freedom movement got a tremendous boost and the US itself became a strong champion of the immediate transfer of power by Britain. The UK wisely and gracefully bowed out.