indeed, this French official was seated on the board of a Saudi bank that the U.S. Treasury Department had listed as supporting terrorism.
OK, so this high French official may have had a vested interest in "identifying" with bin Laden and in "understand[ing] his agenda" - but what about the other "few hundred academicians, jurists, bankers, law-enforcement officials, and reporters who attended the conference - mostly French" - who cheered this speaker?
As early as 1966 - when France dropped out of NATO - our differences were already real.
Many in Europe think that Americans are "bumpkins", while they, presumably, are more sophisticated and experienced in world affairs. I think that they underestimate Americans - but what they think about themselves, is absolutely correct. Many centuries of political intrigue, bloody wars, revolutions, conspiracies, genocide - yes, such an experience will certainly make people politically sophisticated. America doesn't have such rich experience. Heck... maybe we are better off (and, perhaps, even wiser?) without it.
History keeps repeating, and all those repetitive swings from one extreme to another may not be conducive towards retaining clear vision.
It could be that Europe's present violent impulse towards non-violence - at any cost whatsoever - is just the other side of the same old bloody coin. |
