For Denis Scuto, the memory of 11 September 2001 remains vivid. He remembers where he was that day, describing how he learned of the attacks not through live television but through word-of-mouth and the collective shock that followed.
He noted that the scale of the event and its unexpectedness left a mark comparable to key moments in late twentieth-century history. Drawing a parallel to his own experience with earlier acts of terrorism, Scuto shared his memories of the attack by Palestinian militant organisation, Black September, against the Israeli team at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
However, Scuto stressed that 9/11 was different for people in Western societies, stressing a general sense of relative safety throughout the 1990s and the assumption that they were spared from what the UN defines as armed attacks of a terrorist nature. However, this perception changed completely in Europe and in the US with 9/11.
Scuto believes that a change of perception was the most immediate shift after 9/11. The growing awareness of the fragility of democracy and freedoms only really reveals its far-reaching consequences now: the so-called War on Terror led to massive restrictions on freedoms.
In his view, the notion that history ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was a comforting illusion. Instead, it became clear that the fall of the Wall was certainly not the end of history. Crises continue: economic crises, the pandemic, the energy crisis, climate change, and wars, which still overwhelmingly affect civilian populations, especially in regions outside the West. Scuto emphasises that our society often forgets this, highlighting a tendency to overlook suffering in non-Western regions.
Looking at the broader historical sweep, Scuto observed that the negative aspects of the twentieth century – wars, instability, and the proliferation of destructive weapons – did not disappear with the Cold War. Instead, a form of uncontrolled instability took hold, with new types of conflicts involving non-state actors like Al-Qaeda and the privatisation and mass distribution of arsenals of destruction, whether by terrorists or criminal groups. He uses the deployment of cheap drones as an example of a form of privatisation of war technology.
Scuto also pointed to a decisive change in how Western powers conduct wars, especially since the late twentieth century, explaining that they no longer win these wars; instead, they perhaps win battles without controlling territories or stabilising regions. He concluded that every war we fight there strengthens radicalisation and brings new waves of attacks.
Discussing the international response, Scuto acknowledged that the initial US-led attack on Afghanistan could be justified in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, as the country had obviously and officially provided terrorists with a safe haven. However, he criticised subsequent conflicts, especially the war in Iraq, as being based on lies about weapons of mass destruction and lacking justification.
He argued that the broader War on Terror failed to deliver on its hopes. Scuto explained that many people genuinely hoped that terrorism would be tackled on many levels, not just through wars; diplomatically, politically, and economically, by supporting the regions where terrorism thrived. Yet the opposite happened.
According to Scuto, the most profound and problematic change was the erosion of rights and the rule of law. He draws on the introduction of torture, not just in Guantanamo, but in secret prisons across Poland, Georgia, and elsewhere. Additionally, the West introduced impunity for illegal and human rights-violating acts, which ultimately exploded, reaching its peak with Trump in 2025.
When asked about the lessons society should draw from 9/11, Scuto emphasised that what has made societies better and more livable are not violations of law, fundamental rights, or international law, nor is it designating people as scapegoats or enemies.
Instead, he argued that progress comes from strengthening institutions, as in the nineteenth century, individual rights were established. In the twentieth century, social rights followed and recently, minority rights. In the twenty-first century, international law must be strengthened, and the planet must be respected, through greater climate protection ambitions. Scuto concluded that, in short, the opposite of what 9/11 brought so far, as forces like Trump and MAGA have come to power and respect nothing anymore.
Reflecting on the global position of the US, he said it was once an ally. However, today, under Trump, it has declared war on the planet. For Scuto, the true lesson is that only respect for rights, international law, and global cooperation can make societies better.
