GERMANY TURNS TOWARD MILITANCY

The Roots of Anti-Americanism in Germany (Dominic Sachsenmaier, YaleGlobal Online, 4/30/2003)

Whereas most American journalists basically ignored the European media accounts, their colleagues on the other side of the Atlantic constantly referred to the American coverage of the war.... [T]he American war coverage was portrayed as extremely biased, if not outright propaganda.... [T]hese developments indicate a sharp decline of European trust in the United States as a responsible international power and in American political culture....

During the Vietnam War ... the vast majority of the German population retained a favorable image of the United States. By contrast, in a recent opinion poll the number of Germans stating they had an overall positive image of the United States has dwindled down to almost 10% of the overall population. Secondly - and more importantly - today a large number of Germans understand their demonstrations as protests against the United States as a whole....

Many reports pointed towards Christian fundamentalism in the US or the important role of religion in American political discourse as the root causes of the war. Often the implicit message was that America is a democratic culture decaying under the pressure of rising religiosity and interest lobbies....

A tendency to derive a European cultural identity in terms of juxtaposing it against a greatly reduced image of the United States may be in the offing. For example, an article published in a German leftist-liberal news magazine showed two images: one of Bush standing beside a cross "preaching" to military officers and one of protesters in the streets of Berlin. The message of the article was clear: it was Europe - with its tradition of secularism and internationalism - which should stand up against a religiously self-righteous nation trying to impose its sense of mission onto the rest of the world....

An even more disturbing example is an article entitled "The Victory of New Europe", which was published in the pages of the rather conservative "Franfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", one of the leading German daily newspapers. Here the author spoke of a "historically unique civilizational richness of the Union, which was sky-high superior to the strange pathos for freedom and liberation of the American government and its fundamentalist prayers." He furthermore depicted the United States as a reduced "democracy run by millionaires and industrial clans" and an "old colony (of Europe) ossified in militarism". He also saw the Iraq War as a signal for Europe to set off to become a second world power to match the United States. To support such an ambition, he reminded readers, one could take heart in Russia's oil fields and France's nuclear weapons....

Fortunately, such martial voices remain exceptional in the German and other European public spheres, but their attitudes toward the US reflect the sentiments of a large segment of European societies.

It is almost comical that Europeans accuse us of being martial, yet it is they who fantasize in leading newspapers about future wars with us.

Given the sharp ideological rift between 'Old Europe,' with its antipathy toward decentralized cooperative societies, and the United States, it seems likely that the Old European left is going to grow ever more hostile to the United States. Should they win power and desire to take martial action against us, in the new world of terrorism and nuclear proliferation, they will not lack for means: they can secretly give nuclear weapons to terrorists while publicly pretending moderation. This is, indeed, the true danger that 9/11 revealed: that in the era of a single superpower, war against us will no longer be conducted openly, but rather through terrorist proxies and in secret. Nuclear proliferation is dangerous because it provides cover for our enemies, making it difficult for us to trace who is behind nuclear terror. Rogue states such as Afghanistan and Iraq provide an extra level of indirection for our major-power enemies, who can aid Saddam Hussein who in turn aids Al Qaeda.

The Bush administration has responded superbly to this threat. Hopefully they will take further steps to inhibit nuclear proliferation and remove rogue regimes.

As for Europe, much depends on the emergence of pro-freedom political movements. France seems all but lost, but Germany is not beyond hope. Sooner or later, they will notice that freedom is rewarded by prosperity and national strength while welfare statism is rewarded by decline, unemployment, and poverty. Perhaps this will lead to the rise of political parties that favor freedom, and perhaps these parties will argue persuasively in support of us. Let us hope so, because if they do not, we may well face in our lifetimes yet another great threat from Europe.

Posted by Paul Jaminet at May 5, 2003 11:40 AM