Posted on 06/19/2003 12:56:01 PM PDT by FairOpinion
PORTO CARRAS, Greece (AP) - European leaders must reach out beyond New York and Washington and tell the American heartland about ``our brand of democracy'' to improve Europe's image in the United States, according to a memorandum submitted for discussion at the European Union summit.
The memorandum, obtained by The Associated Press, will be submitted Friday by Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou to the 15 EU leaders and those of the 10 countries set to join next year. Greece holds the current rotating EU presidency.
The memo says that the EU's goal at next week's U.S.-EU summit in Washington will be ``to reassert the fundamental importance of the relationship'' with the United States, which was severely strained after several key European nations refused to back the war in Iraq.
``There remains, however, the question of public perception,'' the document says. ``Mutual suspicion and a resort to rather crude stereotyping have begun to infect public perceptions mutually. We cannot afford to allow this to degenerate.''
The memo did not identify those responsible for the purported stereotyping. The European media have, however, sharply criticized U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld for his comments about ``Old Europe,'' which opposed the war, and ``New Europe,'' including Poland and other East European states which supported it.
There were extreme examples, too: Americans boycotted French wines and French fries were renamed ``Freedom'' fries in the House cafeteria on Capitol Hill.
At the same time, some European media have characterized President Bush as a reckless cowboy. European newspapers have been replete with speculation that neo-conservative hawks such as Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle, one of Rumsfeld's closest advisers, have hijacked U.S. foreign policy.
Rather than repeating criticism of Washington's unilateral actions, the memo notes that Europe must recognize the ``seminal effect of the events of Sept. 11, 2001 on American fears, thinking and strategy.''
Commentators on both sides of the Atlantic have criticized some European governments for failing to understand how the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes profoundly influenced U.S. thinking, including the doctrine of pre-emptive attacks on potential sources of terrorism.
To bolster Europe's image, the memo recommends that ``we must undertake to broaden the links with the USA.''
``Our parliamentarians must meet more frequently; we must travel beyond Washington and New York to bring our message to the heartland of the USA,'' it said. ``We must sell or market Europe more effectively and expose Americans to our brand of democracy.''
Europe needs us way more than we need them, and until they recognize that, I can't for the life of me see why we should give them the time of day, even.
Wait, wait...I'm getting a flash...I know...A Film with Woody Allen...Have him say something about French kissing his daughter wife.
Editor asleep at the wheel. It's 'Americans continue to boycott French wines.'
Okay, and then we'll tell you about constitutional republicanism. DOWN WITH DEMOCRACY!
The Europeans will fail because they still miss the point. The US relationship is not strained because France and Germany refused to back the war in Iraq. The relationship is strained because France and Germany attacked the integrity of the United States and actively worked to undermine the US war in Iraq and elsewhere. They could not have done more against the US if they had officially been our enemy.
If the EU wants to conduct a propaganda campaign, they should forget about the American heartland and start with the European heartland. Europe's anti-Americanism must stop!
1) Bathe. Shave. Use deoderant. Wash the grease out of your hair. Get a hair cut. Give it a rest with the black leather already.
2) Don't say one more snot-nosed word about my "cowboy" president.
3) Next time we decide to go kick some butt, either lead, follow, or get out of the way. Note to French: Notice that last option? Get out of the way!
Read 'lets get back to the good old days when only Europeans harbored crude perceptions'.
Well, let's see: European countries (in general - we do have some friends there) can start improving relations by being at least a LITTLE bit grateful for the tens of thousands of dead that we contributed to the cause of European freedom, not to mention the TRILLIONS of dollars spent over 50 years to keep the Bear from taking a drink from the English Channel. They might improve relations further by growing a collective pair when it comes to relations with tyrants that pay, arm, train and shelter mass-murdering terrorists (you see, for some strange reason we Americans have this rather intense dislike of such people, esp. since 9/11).
``There remains, however, the question of public perception,'' the document says. ``Mutual suspicion and a resort to rather crude stereotyping have begun to infect public perceptions mutually. We cannot afford to allow this to degenerate.''
There were extreme examples, too: Americans boycotted French wines and French fries were renamed ``Freedom'' fries in the House cafeteria on Capitol Hill.
At the same time, some European media have characterized President Bush as a reckless cowboy.
Extreme examples of crude stereotyping include boycotting wine and renaming food, but not calling the President of the US a "reckless cowboy"?! How about all of the cartoons of Bush with a Hitler mustache that the article so conveniently didn't mention? What color is the sky in Europe?
No, the Euroweenies STILL don't get it. Maybe the Socialism that they've been ingesting for 2 or 3 generations has permanently dulled their reasoning ability, because I don't think that they WILL get it until they call on Uncle Sucker to clear out some uniformed trespassers.
The cheese-eating surrender monkeys should be glad that I'm not the President - because if I ever found out that they were hiding Saddam or his sons (not entirely unlikely), I'd send over a posse to retrieve them, dead or alive - THEN they'd know what a cowboy is. And I'd give the press conference announcing the action from atop a horse or from a firing range.
I guess that I can't hide my feelings for the 'weenies too well. How un-PC of me. :>)
- Mark Twain's Notebook
Don't forget the hat. If 'twere me, I'd be sporting hat, boots and .44 revolvers.
Bzzzzzt!
German Chancellor Schroeder goes to court over hair dye allegations
And he won!
What a weannie!
Translation: "The U.S. Republic is too 'right wing,' so we need to show them the 'joys' of the Left's version of Nirvana, i.e., the way of the Euro-union. We need to help defeat that 'dangerous cowboy,' Bush, in the next American election."
Grrrr. As if we already don't have enough of our own here at home, the Euro-weenies are planning to ship us more Left-wing politicians spouting Marxist-Leninist bilge, and seeking to overturn our Constitution. Sorry, Euro-jerks, but as long as I draw breath, I'll fight you every step of the way.
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