F EUROPE :

Europe and 'Those People' : Anti-Semitism arises again. (Charles Krauthammer, April 26, 2002, washingtonpost.com)

Three people have been chosen by the United Nations to judge Israel's actions in Jenin. Two are sons of Europe, and one of those is Cornelio Sommaruga. As former head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Sommaruga spent 12 years ensuring that the only nation on earth to be refused admission to the International Red Cross is Israel. The problem, he said, was its symbol: "If we're going to have the Shield of David, why would we not have to accept the swastika?"

One of the good things--at least if you're as unilateralist as we are--that's coming out of the current world situation, is that a bunch of countries that residual affection has made our allies are proving themselves to be anything but. After all, the ancestors of the Brothers Judd were chased out of all the better countries of Europe for their religious beliefs; what debt of loyalty do we owe the skunk-spawn who remained behind? Europeans to a disturbing degree still believe in nationalism, that your nationality is a function of blood and soil. In America we believe instead in a set of ideas that anyone, no matter how newly arrived, can pledge their allegiance to and thereby become just as American as those who've been here the longest. Who should be lecturing whom? Posted by Orrin Judd at April 26, 2002 10:06 AM