The Euro's have seized on this collectivist mindset and enhanced it. I hear it in the rhetoric of the French and the actions of many Europaeans. It is found in the question multiculturalists are fond of asking:"Is an American life worth more than an Iraqi life"? with the implication that a "Yeah" answer is bigoted, racist and just so so retrograde.
In all, I agree that it is a trend and not a franco-German plot, per se.
It is typical of all the neo-socialists that only the UN has the answers and that we must defer to the UN.[Just listen to Pelosi and the Dashole!]In their[the Dems, the UN-ers, the Europeans and the silent Chinese] collectivist mind, if we as a country will buy that sick argument, we can be persuaded, cajoled, kicked into spending our wealth on give-aways to the 3rd world, to despising our strength so as to handicap our selves because after all...its just not fair[ref. the argument that we should not invade Iraq because our army is stronger than theirs!]We would be fools indeed if we allow this nonsense to continue.