Donald Trump recently told an audience in Warsaw that "the fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive." Is he right—or was this presidential paranoia? Can the U.S. and its allies defeat Islamist terrorism or prevent rogue states, such as North Korea and Iran, from engaging in nuclear blackmail? What about the threat from China, Russia, and other hostile authoritarian regimes? Don't bet on Europeans defending Western civilization, says British journalist and historian Daniel Johnson, but Americans still might.

Daniel Johnson is the founding editor of Standpoint, a monthly political and cultural magazine. Previously, he was a correspondent, editorial writer, and senior editor with The Times and Daily Telegraph. An avid chess player who once battled Garry Kasparov to a draw, Johnson is the author of White King and Red Queen: How the Cold War was Fought on the Chessboard (2007). He holds a B.A. from the University of Oxford.

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