Editor-in-chief of “Dagens Nyheter,” Sweden’s leading newspaper reads Big Soccer

Attacking Minded · May 23, 2004

I found this article today and it reminds me of some of the discussions we've had lately. I think it's important for Americans to understand what Europeans think and it's important for Europeans to know what Americans think. Here is what Hans Bergström thinks Americans think,

America also sees Europe as excessively inward looking, sometimes dangerously so. Worse, informed Americans see anti-Semitism running rampant in Europe and xenophobic political parties on the march in country after country. Not even pacific Scandinavia is exempt from this.

Americans see a total inability by Europe to handle immigration in ways that encourage dynamism and diversity instead of antagonism and higher state spending. This seems all the more puzzling because Americans realise how badly Europe needs new immigrants, given its extremely low fertility rates.

Germany and France were against meeting Saddam Hussein with military force, but had no alternative for getting rid of him. “What was the European answer to the problem of Saddam Hussein?” asked Senator Joe Biden in a panel discussion at the recent Davos forum. Biden is a Democrat and strong critic of President Bush. “I asked French and German leaders, but never received any credible answer.”

“We are not even ready to forcefully meet conflicts on our own continent,” Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski sighed. Bosnia’s Muslims thank America, not the EU, for their deliverance from slaughter. Europe devotes half as much in financial resources to the military as the US, resulting in one-tenth of America’s military strength, observed Pat Cox, Speaker of the European Parliament.

This sterility and inertia make Europe less and less interesting for Americans. So American eyes are turning elsewhere: to China with its 1.3 billion people and an economy growing at 8-10 percent, year in and year out, and to India, with its 1.1 billion people and 6 percent annual growth.

Demographic change in the US is also working to change America’s global orientation. With American immigration dominated by Latin Americans and Asians, the US feels its European heritage less. Similarly, domestic US politics is gravitating to the country’s south and west, regions that look towards Latin America and Asia, not Europe. The fall of the Soviet empire, naturally, reduced Americans’ security interest in Europe.

As a European editor wrote apropos the flow of scientists from Europe to America: “What’s most sad is that Europeans still believe that their society represents the epitome of civilisation, while the US is on its way to downfall. What if the reality is the reverse?” Every European should contemplate that possibility, at least for a moment, before resuming their current aversion to all things American.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_24-5-2004_pg3_4
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There's obviously more in the link.

As I've written in other threads what I find to be the longest term problem is that with the low growth in Europe, coupled with the low birthrate, I just can’t see Europe being more relevant than it is today and probably a whole lot less. I think that's kind of sad as Europe has a lot to offer.

BenReilly · May 24, 2004

Attacking Minded said:

As I've written in other threads what I find to be the longest term problem is that with the low growth in Europe, coupled with the low birthrate, I just can’t see Europe being more relevant than it is today and probably a whole lot less. I think that's kind of sad as Europe has a lot to offer.
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For once I pretty much agree with you.

speedcake · May 24, 2004

BenReilly said:

For once I pretty much agree with you.
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and an interesting article quote and link to boot! hey now