Dissemination of Western civilisation has been uneven and much Western example has been rejected by people who see it as an affront. Take the Islamists, who created whole new versions of their religion, amongst which sits Wahhabism, in reaction to aggressive Western successes compared to the decline of their Muslim world. Their fear that Western civilisation will sweep all before it still exists today - personified by members of Al Qaeda, anti-integration cultural Islamists in Western lands, and leaders of theocratic Islamist states, like Iran.

Today the very account of the story of Western civilisation is seen by some as an aggression. In a world of relativistic values and moral equality, the very idea of a West-centred (Eurocentric) global history is denounced as arrogant and oppressive. It is "designed", so we are told, to justify Western domination over the East by pointing to European superiority. What we should have instead is a multicultural, globalist, egalitarian history that tells something (preferably something good) about everybody. We are told that the European contribution (including that of the more recent European colonies, like the US) - no more or less than the invention and definition of modernity as we know it - should be seen as fortuitous or, to use the fashionable word amongst those who can but teach, contingent.

We have seen many examples of this Europhobia:

Take voyages and discovery. The Chinese are supposed to have found the Americas - at least they should have. As are the Africans. And the Japanese. Europeans were just lucky to document their "discovery". Or, Europeans were so vile and wretched of course they stumbled across the Americas - they took all the wealth of their discovered territory (the gold, the silver), dealt a blow to native (far more civilised) populations with mere thuggery and only then, after trading their wealth with Asia, did they call themselves top of the tree and praise themselves for their great civilizing mission, spirituality and achievements.

Benazir Bhutto followed her father into politics and both of them died because of it. He was executed in 1979, she has today fallen victim to a cowardly suicide bomb attack. Yet again Islamists have shown they have to resort to violence rather than failing in their attempts to get to power in a peaceful fashion using popular will.

Whatever her political opponents thought of her (and she had many both within and outside of Pakistan) they must all admit she showed considerable bravery of late in returning to Pakistan and attending campaign rallies where there was always going to be a serious security risk. Sceptics say she returned because her stolen millions were running out - in fact she could easily have stayed away.

Whatever said of the woman, she was a champion of democracy in a land where democracy's opponents have killed many in the past. Bhutto's two brothers also suffered violent deaths. Like the Nehru-Gandhi family in India, the Bhuttos of Pakistan are one of the world's most famous political dynasties. Benazir's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was prime minister of Pakistan in the early 1970s. His government was one of the few in the 30 years following independence that was not run by the army.

Born in 1953 in the province of Sindh and educated at Harvard and Oxford, Ms Bhutto gained credibility from her father's high profile, even though she was a reluctant convert to politics. She was twice prime minister of Pakistan, from 1988 to 1990, and from 1993 to 1996. On both occasions she was dismissed from office by the president for alleged corruption.

The dismissals typified her volatile political career, which was characterised by numerous peaks and troughs. At the height of her popularity - shortly after her first election - she was one of the most high-profile women leaders in the world.

Young and glamorous, she successfully portrayed herself as a refreshing contrast to the overwhelmingly male-dominated political establishment.

But after her second fall from power, her name came to be seen by some as synonymous with corruption and bad governance.

The determination and stubbornness for which Ms Bhutto was renowned was first seen after her father was imprisoned and charged with murder by Gen Zia ul-Haq in 1977, following a military coup. Two years later he was executed.