US-World relations in the long run

[dazzleman]

I think that M is pretty correct in his analysis.

With respect to Western Europe, I think in a lot of ways US policy has succeeded too well.  We have made the Western Europeans so secure that they seem to imagine that the whole world operates like their societies do, and that all differences can be talked out and negotiated.

I think there is also a great deal of hatred and envy from the Western Europeans because they have lost, through their own mismanagment of their affairs, their pre-eminent place in world affairs.  People also hate those who have saved them, because they resent having been in the position of needing to be saved in the first place.

Frankly, I don't have a high regard for Western European opinion.  Europeans seem to live in a bubble, and while they like to weep over victims, their sympathy is gone the minute you stop being a victim.  I don't see the point of trying too hard to placate the Western Europeans, because they'll criticize us no matter what we do, particularly if it's in our own self interest.  We just have to do what we think is right.  I don't see that countries like France, Belgium, Sweden and some others could really provide much effective help in any case.  They were completely impotent in handling the Yugoslavia crisis, and these people remind me a lot of people who can't do anything constructive, but spend all their time criticizing those who try.

[dazzleman]

What are your thoughts on the European Union? As a Christian, I believe what the Bible says in the Books of Daniel and Revelation and about how the European Union will rise up and a leader will emerge out of the shadows, and become the world dictator. It's heading that way. The Bible also mentions that this leader will come from Spain. Now, isn't that interesting? Solaros [spelling is probably wrong] is from where? SPAIN! The European Union will rise up and dominate the entire world. All Sovereignty will be lost. It is coming, and soon!

I don't share your concerns about the European Union dominating the world, and I don't really believe in those biblical prophesies, which are in any case very much open to a number of different interpretations.

On the contrary, the European Union is militarily impotent, and my bigger fear would be that they would be unable to defend themselves, and expect us to save them again, this time from militant Islamic aggression.

At this point, the Europeans are like a rich old lady living on the edge of a very rough neighborhood.  Europeans are not reproducing, and they have allowed immigration by large numbers of Muslims who have no intention of assimilating.

Their economies are hobbled by high taxes and an unrealistic level of benefits for workers, and for those subject to the high unemployment rate that they have in most countries there.  It's not a situation that can go on forever.