It’s obviously a multi-faceted phenomenon, but at some level I think its roots are pretty clear. The basis of it is resentment. The U.S. is what other nations wish they could be. It has a vibrant economy, a dynamic society and irrepressible popular culture; it absorbs more immigrants than any other society; and dominates global ideas and cultural images in ways that have simply never been experienced before. When you add to this overwhelming military superiority, you can see why many people around the world chafe in envy and resentment – especially when there’s no rival superpower to frighten the allies back into American arms. It’s human nature. Human interaction won’t prevent that. Here’s an extract from the Washington Post yesterday:
The irony, says Alain Frachon, a senior editorial writer for Le Monde newspaper, is that in many ways the French and Americans have never been closer. Trade and travel between the two countries are at an all-time peak. “More Frenchmen speak English, travel to the U.S. for vacation or to do business,” he says. “The practical understanding of what the United States is has never been greater.”
But that is surely the point. Europeans know how American society is equalling or besting theirs’ in almost every field, from technology to medicine through literature and the arts. They know that demographically, America is still booming, while they are in decline. Yes, they can reassure themselves that economic inequality is lesser in Europe, but only because the market has been restrained from rewarding talent, the same restraints that guarantee lower levels of economic growth for the Europeans. Moreover, the days when Germany or France actually mattered as great powers are long over, and the United States’ intention to engage more aggressively in the world since 9/11 merely rubs this in.
AGAINST THEIR OWN INTERESTS: Perhaps we’re reaching a point where, whatever the actual interests of Europeans are, they cannot psychologically acquiesce to them. From any rational point of view, the end of the Saddam regime in Baghdad cannot be a huge blow to European interests. In fact, it’s pretty much a no-brainer, a necessary international police action to remove an obvious potential threat from terrorists and weapons of mass destruction. Saddam is the easy case, not the hard one. So why the intensity of the opposition – even to the point of wrecking NATO and splitting Europe in two? Resentment, I posit. Resentment. And that resentment – which is not manufactured by European leaders, merely tolerated by them – is bound to have a deep effect on the future of international relations. This current crisis is just the beginning of a realignment that could be profound. The first casualty? My candidate is the European Union. Old Europe cannot live with its growing impotence. They will not rearm out of Euro-pacifism, which would be one way to express their desire to restrain the U.S. So they wil stew and stew, engaging in the kind of pure obstructionism we’re seeing today. But Britain, Italy, Spain and Eastern Europe may not be so resentful. American foreign policy in the next few years should be concentrating on this split, and doing what it can to deepen it.
The Dish 