America and Europe

Thomas Friedman has a columnn today on the breech between Old Euope and America (he doesn't use that term). He postulates that we have different goals and that this is the source of our problem. Indeed, but I don't think things are as technocratic as some of the lines in his column suggest. He quotes Carl Bildt, the former Swedish PM, "Every European prime minister wakes up in the morning thinking about how to share sovereignty" and "the U.S. president wakes up thinking about where the next terror attack might come from and how to respond." [the quotes are of TF paraphrasing CB]

Yes, and no. Another line gets closer to the heart of the matter. "Pretending to ease the suffering of the Iraqi people — by calling for the removal of sanctions but keeping Saddam in power so he can buy lots of stuff from Germany and France — is priceless to them. But easing the suffering of the Iraqi people by removing Saddam's whole sick regime is worthless to them." France has shown a certain unwillingness to embrace the globalization the US granted the world in 1944 at Bretton Wood. They resent US interfearance in what was effectively a satalite state, Iraq. Hence the notions of a counterweight to the US.