Ben Harnwell

Good morning.

One of the greatest ever historians in the comparative study of civilizations, Arnold Toynbee, analyzed the demise of 20 notable civilizations.

In The Disintegrations of Civilizations, the fifth volume of his 12 volume magnum opus, A Study of History, Toynbee noted that of the 21 civilizations he studied,

19 perished not by conquest from without, but by moral decay from within.

Writing on the eve of the Second World War, Toynbee said, I do not believe that civilizations break down through being worsted by their environment.

I believe that when they do break down, the cause is not some blow from outside, but some inward spiritual failure, some kind of demoralization to which we human beings are not bound to succumb and for which we ourselves therefore bear the responsibility.

Or more simply, to quote his most famous expression, civilizations die by suicide, not by murder.

So just to reintroduce myself, I know Joe did it, but my name is Ben Harnwell.

I am the international editor of the number one rated US political show, Steve Bannon's War Room.

And I gather there is even a representation here in the audience that follows the show.

Thank you to Advance and specifically to Matthew Sheehan for inviting me here today.

And thank you to all of you for being here and your attention during this 35-minute presentation.

And I'm going to leave 10 minutes for questions at the end for those of you who especially enjoy making conference speakers squirm in public.

So if you can all hear me, if I can move off from the podium for one moment.

I live in Italy.

I've lived in Italy for 15 years.

In some respects, many respects, one of the great founding contributions to Western civilization.

Some of you might know I was involved in running, Joe mentioned it, a monastery, Trisulti.

I'll say a little bit, but obviously time is limited.

It's a complex of some 83,000 square meters, but it has 15,000 square meters of roof.