Europeans: From Venus?

Middle East Forum ^ | July 16, 2002 | Daniel Pipes

[WaterDragon]

Whatever the current burning issue is -- trade with Iraq, support for Israel, building a missile defense system, accepting the International Court -- Americans and West Europeans often find themselves on opposite sides of the argument. (snip)

The differences, in brief, are stark: Americans are Mars; Europeans, from Venus. Europeans spend their money on social services, Americans continue to devote large sums to the military. Europeans draw lessons from their successful pacifying of post -1945 Germany; Americans draw lessons from their defeat of Nazi Germany and of the Soviet Bloc. (snip)

For complete article click here.

[lepton]

As the German lion lay down with the French lamb, Europeans widely congratulated themselves on a world-historical breakthrough and concluded that their future global mission is to develop a "postmodern system" that resolves problems without even the hint of force. (Along the way, they conveniently forgot that this transformation was only made possible because U.S. forces defeated Germany.) They aspire, Kagan argues, to replicate their success on a global scale, by taming a North Korea or an Iraq as they did Germany.

The soft approach works when there is no will to fight, else the figther simply wins by default.

[weikel]

Yeah only 16% goes to our military the rest is mostly social programs and transfer payments and lets not forget the WOD.

[wretchard]

Daniel Pipes is wrong in some respects. The total EU population is nearly 400 million, some 100 million more than the US. It is not as productive on a per capita basis, however, and consequently their combined GDPs are only roughly comparable to the US.

But this is nitpicking. I think is Pipes mistakenly believes that the Europeans have gone pacific after 1945. But the European impulse to savagery and totalitrianism is just under the surface, both culturally and structurally. The Europeans have adopted the mantra of political correctness precisely because they understand what a stew of ethnic hatreds, unreconstructed fanaticisms and toxic ideas lurks beneath the mask of the workaday.

As I type these words, the radio is running a special on European pedophiles in Cambodia; just guys engaged in destroying the souls of children before returning to their jobs as, say, garbagemen in Brussels. I know why they are afraid to speak the truth about anything, especially about themselves.

The American engagement on the Old Continent served us better than it served them. It kept their dark genies in the bottle. Now that they are on their own, you can see a new shape re-forming inside the serpent's egg.

[WaterDragon]

Great post, wretchard.