Quote:


The point of all this is that no nation is all good, nor is one all bad. Rather than base our foreign policy decisions on the imagined superiority of other--also flawed--nations we should base it on what is strategically and otherwise justified as being in the best interests of our citizenry.



I think that's a very fair point, although I disagree on one level, philosophically.


Quote:

the G-man said:
I had a thought today about Europe's attitude towards the US and, while I make no claim as to its veracity, it's worth pondering.

The United States started as European colony. The vast majority of Americans are at least partially descended from Europeans. Our culture is largely a melting pot of European ideas, language and culture. Until recently, our nation was populated primarily through European immigration, first the British, Dutch and Germans and, later waves of Irish, Italians, Russians, etc., etc. Even Hispanics/Latinos have a connection to Europe through Spain and other colonization of this hemisphere.

Is some of our ongoing tension with Europe essentially caused by what is viewed by Europeans, perhaps subconsciously, as a parent-child relationship? Does Europe view us as the child that they can't let go of, the way that some parents never can really admit their kid is now an adult?

Just a thought. I'm not sure how I stand on it one way or another.



Australia is a European colony. We don't have the same issue with Europe.

I personally think its a cultural issue. Simply because Europe, North America and a few other states are lumped together as "The West" doesn't mean that we share exactly the same values and ideals (broadly speaking, we do).

Similarly, France and the UK are two of the few other countries capable of readily deploying force at a distance (to put it in perspective, when Australia sent a big contigent of troops to East Timor - which is geographically close to Australia- all Australians were subject to a special "East Timor levy" of 1% of our annual salary. France and England, like the US, cheerily toss troops to all corners of the globe with no impact on their economies). The big kids don't always play well together in the yard.

Pimping my site, again.

http://www.worldcomicbookreview.com