A Widening Disagreement

Davids Medienkritik and Roger Simon both have links to this thought-provoking interview with Jeffrey Gedmin, the American who runs Aspen Institute in Berlin. Gedmin cites four strands in Europe's increasingly virulent antipathy to the U.S. and to Israel: An attempt to assuage past guilt, simple rivalry with the U.S., anti-Semitism, and "the nonacceptance of European concepts of society by the majority of Israelis."

And, he thinks, it's only going to get worse. "Dependency on America during the Cold War has bred terrible European resentment. Americans have underestimated how deep that runs. Yet the imbalance in power between the United States and Europe remains and this breeds even more European frustration and envy. Europe is still lacking in economic growth and dynamism, self-confidence and demography."

Some highlights:

"The Europe of today is characterized not only by its territorial expansion through adding new member states and the development of its common currency. It is also characterized by its emancipation from America and the reflex to define itself in opposition to it.

"Europe does not define itself also in contrast to Israel, yet it refuses to think maturely and strategically about how to produce a genuine peace in the Middle East. The typical European approach to Israel is to wait until Israel reacts to an attack and then criticize it. The Israeli government states that it is important to clean out terrorists from Jenin. The Europeans react by calling it a 'catastrophe' or a 'massacre.' Then Israel decides that an alternative approach to stopping terror is killing the leaders of the Palestinian terrorist groups. Europeans then react by saying, 'That is against international law.' Thus the Israeli government decides it is more peaceful and civil to build a fence to cordon off the terrorists. Then the Europeans say that is not a good idea.

"One would expect the Europeans to say at least once, 'This is what we would do. Our proposal is credible for a number of sound reasons. We will support it in the following ways. If you accept it and it fails, we will protect you by taking a number of major actions.' On that front, however, the Europeans are totally absent."

***

"So far with every Westerner beheaded in Iraq, with every Israeli teenager murdered by a Palestinian, there is a reflex reaction among important circles in Europe to say that, 'It is the fault of the victim. If only the Americans had not removed Saddam Hussein, and if only the Israelis would give the Palestinians land, this would not have happened.'"

Gedmin adds that Americans have learned the hard way that appeasement invites aggression. Most Europeans still have to learn that. Many important circles in Europe believe that it was Germany's policy of détente that 'hollowed out' communism. Therefore in their view of history, Reagan's and Thatcher's policies might have turned the political situation with the Soviet Union into a disaster. It was fortunate that Communism crumbled and they are willing to admit that the American and UK roles in that were even somewhat constructive. He sees that narrative rather differently.

"The Spanish reaction after the Madrid mass murder of train passengers in March 2004 is an extreme case of European appeasement policy."

***

"In discussions about Europe and America one often finds similar attitudes of denying, playing down, or marginalizing the obvious. I usually say that 'we Americans have double standards, while Europeans have none.' The United States has political cooperation with dictatorships such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Yet we debate the resulting problems openly; ask ourselves how far our tactics should lead us and what the alternatives are.

"When the German chancellor goes to Riyadh, he is accompanied by the heads of major German companies, does business and leaves. Terrorism, human rights abuses, or anti-Semitism are not mentioned in these visits. Although we also do business heavily, and sometimes wrongly, in America public debate accompanies the issue."

Gedmin adds that the extreme totalitarian aspects of the Arab world usually do not resonate in his conversations in Germany, even though these should remind the Germans of their own totalitarian past. "Often when I talk to Germans about the lack of democracy in the Arab world, the reaction is, 'Why are you so pro-Israeli? You aren't even Jewish.' I answer that my position is an easy one because both Israel and the United States are democracies. In addition, the U.S. needs allies and Israel is one. That is a simpler answer than basing one's relationship on history and responsibility for Second World War crimes."

***

"Liberal democracies face a huge fight against the lethal phenomenon of Arab and Muslim terrorism. When this becomes clearer to European populations, they may start to understand that this battle will not be easily won. Many Americans recognize the threat terrorist forces represent, while many Europeans underestimate both the danger and their own unhealthy part in dealing with it.

"To counter this requires endless, tireless work of building networks, arguing, and making information available. Through such networks we can provide moral and intellectual solidarity to those in Germany who are pro-American and pro-Israeli. Those who write articles have to be encouraged to speak up. When the Bush administration pursues the right foreign policy, while selling it poorly, private institutions and individuals have to come to their assistance to explain it. The same is true for Israel."

Meanwhile, someone named Gijs de Vries, who is EU counterterrorism coordinator, seems to get it. He says radical youths from Europe and the Arab world are being trained in Iraq and other unstable areas of the globe. He says bringing order and stability to Iraq would undermine the terrorists. He says Europe still faces real and serious threats from these people.

And what is the rest of Europe doing about it? Sweet fuck-all, as far as I can tell. Patting each other on the back for every time they trip up the Americans. Weeping over the murderer Arafat, cursing at the moron Bush, and feeling the deep glow of schadenfreude (that wonderful humanitarian sentiment for which we Americans have to borrow a German word), for every U.S. man or woman who gets legs blown off in Iraq.

Shifting from Old Europe to blue states, Sarah (you'll recognize her if you've seen "Team America") wonders why the alternative view gets no traction: "If you oppose the war, shouldn’t you support helping Iraqis put their country back together? Regardless of whether Bush looks like a chimp or not, shouldn’t the idea that someone is raising money to help the common people of Iraq be a good thing? If you believe the war was wrong, shouldn’t you believe the people of Iraq were right and thus want to help them?"

[I also got this joke from her:

A Baptist minister was seated next to a Marine on a commercial airline flight. After the plane was airborne, drink orders were taken. The Marine asked for a scotch and soda, which was promptly placed before him. The flight attendant then asked the minister if he would like a drink.

The minister replied in disgust, "I'd rather be savagely raped by brazen whores than let liquor touch my lips."

The Marine handed his drink back to the attendant and said, "Me too. I didn't know that was a choice."]