There is a terrific op-ed piece in today's New York Times entitled "The Great Powers of Europe, Redefined." It should be required reading for all Americans. In a nutshell, Timothy Garton Ash argues that while we have been focused elsewhere, the EU has continued to grow. Even more critically, nations across Europe, in the Balkans, and in Asia, are willing to make dramatic internal changes in order to join. The spread of democracy our President has been talking about? It's going full speed ahead on continents which we disdain and ignore.
Some of Mr. Ash's points:
"Why is it that Americans do not understand the power of the European Union? Is it because they are simply not well informed by reports from Brussels and other European capitals? Or is it because, as citizens of the world's last truly sovereign nation-state, Americans - and especially American conservatives - find it difficult to acknowledge the contribution of a transnational organization based on supranational law?
***
In the way that some American conservatives talk about the European Union, I hear an echo of Stalin's famous question about the Vatican's power: how many divisions does the pope have? But the pope defeated Stalin in the end. This attitude overlooks the dimensions of European power that are not to be found on the battlefield."
***
The European way of life, its culture and societies, are enormously appealing to many of its neighbors. Meanwhile, the policies of the Bush administration have prompted a wave of hostility toward America around the world, while its security measures have made it more difficult for foreigners to study or work in the United States."
Two of my children have studied in France; one is there now. We've traveled as a family to France and Italy. Our President and his cronies turn up their noses at gracious and dignified friends who have found it difficult to see their interests as allied so precisely with our own that they would send their young people to war, and they have gone out and found new friends.
If we really want to play on the world stage, we need to make friends, too.
Walked: 3 miles.
1 comment:
I don't have a lot of faith in Bush on any level, but especially in terms of diplomacy. Not his strong suit. In his arrogance he cannot see the rising power of Europe. I hope the man is made of better stuff than I am giving him credit for. He has a lot of fences to mend. I can't see that Rice will be any better at making friends. She is a mirror image of Bush. I don't think Americans in general think about the world outside of the U.S. We live in a kind of unreality--a fantasy land. We don't recognize the pain or respect the differences of other nations. Good entry--I enjoyed this.
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