If Europe is to come together politically, and the plan of unification is to be realized, some outside threat - that is, an outside economic threat - might be useful for the final push. At the moment, America is an obvious candidate. Now that Russia's armored divisions are gone from central Europe, America's protecting hand is superfluous. For those on Europe's left, and for those who dream of a united Europe, it may be time to bite down hard on superfluous things.
Politics, as the "art of the possible," does not always lead the players to fair decisions or historically wise policies. The charted course is frequently that of expedient measures and emotionally satisfying excursions into meanness. Students of history know that Europe's peace and plenty owes something to American blood and treasure. Two waves of totalitarianism threatened to sweep Europe into bondage. American soldiers - reviled by many Europeans today - liberated country after country, and afterwards barred the advance of the Red Army during the Cold War. But now that the Cold War is over, some Europeans would get even with America for its good deeds. Consider the logic of Brussels and the European Union: Ongoing trade disputes with America are a good thing. Each dispute resolved in Europe's favor justifies European unity for the sake of economic advantage, and any American compromise for the sake of strategic unity is bound to engender further demands from the European side. At the same time, any worsening of EU-US trade relations justifies European unity in the face of American nastiness.
Recently, the European Union and the United States have been unable to agree on a formula for anti-dumping duties. Mobilizing for maximum political advantage, and for the mileage this promises to the cause of European unity, Brussels is preparing to blast the U.S. with an official complaint before the World Trade Organization. It's a win-win move for Brussels and a lose-lose situation for Washington (because Washington has a strategic interest in Europe while Europe has none in America). Theoretically, free trade is a good thing for all peaceful nations. But free trade is like the man in the moon. Our fanciful mood sees him even though he isn't there at all. And modern legislation being what it is, with differing rates of taxation, with fluctuating national currencies and subsidies, one is left to search in vain for the Seven Cities of Gold, the Fountain of Youth and free trade. Does it anywhere exist? Has it ever existed? Will it ever be found?
As Brussels prepares its complaint before the WTO, Washington appears unwilling to back down. There are other disputes on the table, as well. Europe and America disagree over US export subsidies, hormones in beef and genetically modified crops. America is also being blamed for the collapse of WTO development talks in Cancun.
Is the European relationship with America headed for an impasse? There is another question, as well: Is Europe itself coming to an end? (That would be an impasse, indeed!) After all, Europeans are not having babies as they used to. The demand for labor is greater than native reproduction. Imagine 100 million aged and infirm Germans, French and Italians whose bedpans are being changed by young Muslims. Would it be an exaggeration to say that this is Europe's future? In his book, The Death of the West, Patrick Buchanan suggests that America has allied itself to Europe's corpse. "Alliances are entered into to strengthen nations," writes the conservative columnist, "How is America strengthened by a treaty to defend forever a continent that refuses to raise the armies to defend itself and whose populations have begun to die?"
Buchanan argues that American trade policy should not be predicated on keeping ungrateful allies within the strategic fold. "Something vital has gone out of Europe," writes Buchanan, "Once, Western nations were willing to sacrifice for 'the ashes of their fathers and the temples of their gods.' But Europeans today ... are not."
The failure of Europe to maintain its native population base signifies a sea change. "The day of Europe is over," says Buchanan. "The coming mass migrations from the Islamic world will so change the ethnic composition of the Old Continent that Europeans will be too paralyzed by a threat of terrorism to intervene in North Africa, the Middle East, or the Persian Gulf."
A recent scandal in Sweden is instructive. The Israeli ambassador to Sweden, Zvi Mazel, was recently kicked out of Stockholm's Museum of National Antiquities after he vandalized a piece of "art" that glamorized Islamic terrorism. The exhibit was titled "Making Differences" and was associated with a scheduled international conference on genocide hosted by Sweden. The vandalized "art" was made up of a simulated pool of blood upon which floated a miniature sailboat named "Snow White." The sail of the boat sported the likeness of Hanadi Jaradat, a female suicide bomber who blew up 21 people including five children and a 2-month-old baby at a Haifi restaurant last October. The Israeli ambassador saw the terrorist's likeness sailing calmly upon the blood of his countrymen and his rage could not be checked. With hundreds of visitors present, Ambassador Mazel ripped out the exhibit's plugs and threw one of its spotlights into the pool causing an electrical blowout. "For me it was intolerable and an insult to the families of the victims," said Mazel. "As Israel's ambassador I could not remain indifferent to such an obscene misrepresentation of reality."
The Israeli-Swedish couple responsible for "Snow White" denied that their work glorified Islamic terrorism. "When I saw her picture," explained one of the artists, "I thought she [i.e., the terrorist] looked like Snow White." Other statements by the artists reveal their pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli bias. The Swedish government has refused to take down the "Snow White" display. A European state refuses to intervene against a subtle pro-terrorist statement, perhaps fearful of a violent Arab reaction. Sweden will not have Arab immigrants bombing its Museum of National Antiquities. Better to glorify the bomber for the sake of those who will attend the Swedish nation in its senility.
With regard to Mazel's trashing of "Snow White," an Israeli correspondent recently observed: "The general European approach to appeasing the Islamic world, bashing American efforts, demonizing Israel, etc., etc., provides a clear context [for] the recent incident in Sweden."
"When my Swedish friend told me that, beginning in 1993, charges of 'racism' can be brought against ethnic Swedes who raise the Swedish flag or play the national anthem, a bell rang in my mind," the Israeli correspondent wrote. "After all, we're not talking about SS festivals in Munich, with Nazi flags and banners waving in the breeze. In Sweden the influx of Arabs is the sole context for this bizarre anti-nationalist policy...."
Laws against nationalism show us only one dimension of decrepitude. There are also laws against the Christian religion. Sixteen years ago a Swedish evangelical minister opened his Bible to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. He told his congregation that sexual perversity angered the Lord. A few months later this evangelical pastor found himself in jail serving a four-week sentence.
The cause of free speech is lost in Sweden. A recent ruling of the district court of Stockholm against the Swedish daily Aftonbladet held that an anonymous user on the Aftonbadent Web site was guilty of "hate speech." To be sure, the publisher had removed the offending sentence. But the prosecution charged that the offending sentence had not been removed from the forum as fast as it should have. But even this point became irrelevant when the court decided that the crime was committed immediately upon publication.
Europe's recent infatuation with euthanasia may be a telling political metaphor. What better way is there to describe the bullying of America on trade policy and the condemnation of President Bush's war on terror? If Europe wants a peaceful death, here is a sure formula. Intelligent observers know what would become of Europe if America sank beneath the ocean. It is hard to say what problems, if any, America would face should Europe disappear.
