In the last few days, we’ve been reminded yet again that Europe’s radical secularism, atheism, socialism, multiculturalism, childlessness, and aging population make a fascinating but unstable mix — a lovely, fragile orchid in a thinly protected greenhouse.
Kosovo has just declared its independence from Serbia, and what follows could be nightmarish. An oil-rich, bellicose, and rearming Russia doesn’t much like the new breakaway state. But France, Germany, and most of the European Union — other than its Orthodox members and those in close proximity to Vladimir Putin — encouraged it. To paraphrase Joseph Stalin, “How many divisions does the E.U. have?”
Hanson then goes on to list the various dilemmas of the Europeans, who secretly would like nothing better than to have some US "cowboys" come and rescue them.
How do all these diverse narratives and agendas add up? The vauntedEuropean multicultural, multilateral, utopian and pacifist worldview is now on its own and thus will get hammered as never before in the unrelenting forge of history. Very soon there will be no more George W. Bush to dump on, hide behind, and blame for the widening cracks in the Atlantic alliance. Instead Europeans may well have to call on the old pro, Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama, to lead them in negotiating sessions with jihadists, Iran, and Russia....
Europe is in a classic paradox. Emotionally and culturally, Europeans are invested in a leftist such as Obama who reflects their soft socialist values and fuzzy multilateralism. But given their inherent military weakness and rough neighborhood, they have grown to count on an antithetical America — religious, conservative, militarily strong — that is not afraid to use force to fulfill its obligations to preserve the shared Western globalized system from its constant multifarious challenges. I’m not sure they privately want a President Obama calling Sarkozy or Merkel and announcing, “I think we should co-chair a worldwide Islamic conference to hear out Iran’s grievances.” Much better it would be for the U.S. to ensure that Iran doesn’t get the bomb — at which point the French elite would trash America in Le Monde for being unilateral, cowboyish, and preemptive.
Ah well, even if the Europeans are beginning to wake up to their obvious vulnerabilites in a world without a strong U.S. presence--i.e., one where the U.S. has instead embraced a cozy Euro-style leftism--they might just have to live with such a reality.
They won't like it much.
Because when their radically secular atheistic, multiculti socialist ethic hits the fan(aticism) of radical Islam, and all those "peace", "love", "brotherhood", and "tolerance" messages they spout fail to protect them; they will either get steamrolled into submission; or they will have to re-evaluate the functionality of their fuzzy ideology in the real world.
Underreaction and its consequences may ultimately help to focus the mind on reality.
Read Hanson's entire discussion. In one respect, I suspect that VDH is incorrect, however; it may well be Europe's 'misfortune' to be faced with these dilemmas and challenges, but ultimately, if the US pretends it's 'none of our own', we may be swept up anyway in the painful repercussions of European disintigration.
The Sanity Squad discuss some of the implications of the Kosovar declaration of independence for the EU and the US on BlogTalkRadio. Click on the button below to listen:
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