Europe

Times change, of course. It wasn't so long ago that the American left wondered why Democrats in Congress couldn't "stand up" to the Bush administration in the way that, say, France and Germany opposed the American-led War in Iraq. Now that the worm has turned in Washington, of course, everything is different. Why won't those annoying europeans do as they're told? This time it is the failure of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, among others, to endorse the Americans' "solution" to the financial crisis that is irritating pundits in Washington and New York. Hence, Michael Tomasky*: "confidence has never been especially great here in the states that, even with Obama's massive worldwide popularity, European nations would just do what America wants." Oh noes!

It's not just Gordon Brown who wants the rest of europe to splash some cash to get us out of the mess we're in. There are plenty of commentators on the American left - Paul Krugman for one - who also fret that unless european countries join the massive stimulus bandwagon they threaten to delay, or even cancel, everyone's recovery. Enemy number one, obviously, is the Germans. But as Tyler Cowen points out, the Germans might have some good reasons for their reluctance to go on a spending spree. They remember the costs of German unification and can recall how spending massive quantities of money wasn't a magic cure-all then either: The two countries united, lots of money was spent and lots of money was borrowed...The results were less than wonderful.

Henrick Hertzberg writes: Most of Europe’s individual “states” have governments that are not just democratic but also energetic and powerful. Hence the “European socialism”—i.e., universal health care, greater economic equality, low crime rates, fast trains, good road signage, excellent broadband—that American conservatives are so scared of. But Europe’s federal government—the European Union—is like the post-independence U.S. government under the Articles of Confederation: it’s weak, it’s atomized, it has feeble powers of taxation, and it can’t act without unanimity or something close to it among its several states.

I'm indebted to Justin at Chicken Yoghurt for alerting me to this article from La Repubblica: "PORTO VIRO (Rovigo) - 'It's a pity - È un peccato - I love working with the Italians, I love Italy. I just hope this Ssuff about the Grimsby refinery is just a one-off'. Brian has just got back from the oil rig in the Adriatic where one hundred Brits, along with two hundred Italian and foreign colleagues, are working cheek by jowl on a regasifier that will provide 10% of our country with methane. He doesn't want to talk, as he walks out from the Porto Viro base, guarded like  a barracks, where another one hundred employees work, mostly from Exxon Mobil: British, American, Norwegian, Italian... But the news of those walkouts against the "Italians" arrive like a bad omen.

Happy St George's day, English readers. To mark the occasion, the Telegraph offers us Simon Heffer, the would-be John Wilkes of our times, to declare the Union "as good as over". And this, according to Heffer, is a fine thing since it ensures that England can finally be free from Tartan oppression. Apparently there's been a conspiracy to to prevent the English from being, well, English: St     Patrick's, St David's and St Andrew's days were decreed as the moments when the oppressed proclaimed their identity and possibly even their liberation. The only thing the English could possibly do on St George's  Day was to reflect upon their centuries of evil, so it really was best not to make a fuss.

Lisa Schiffren at National Review: The famously tolerant Dutch, whose nation has the highest emigration of any European country as the native born flee the effects of multi-culturalism, Islamisation, and the after effects of legalizing everything, have come up with a new line to cross. Public sex in Amsterdam's city parks will now be legal. But only for gays. So, assuming Ms Schiffren's analysis of Dutch emigration is correct* (an unlikely proposition to be sure, but...) Holland is waving goodbye to racists and scolds. Would that we could all be so fortunate.

I'll have more to say about this video discussion at National Review in due course. The summary, mind you, gives you a decent flavour of the thesis: The Decline and Fall of Europe: Chapter 3 of 5 Prof. Thornton discusses how a bureaucratic European Union “super state” is undermining the old nation-states of England, France, and Germany — a dangerous process. Uber-nationalism, of course, gave us the fascist European movements of the 20th century. Under the “enlightened” guidance of the EU, however, any nationalism is looked upon as reprehensible. Thornton counters that deep-rooted nationalism is a net good, and that its deterioration will coincide with the loss of representative democracy.