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To: Thomas M. who wrote (12027)	3/21/2003 12:29:06 PM
From: Thomas M.	Respond to of 17683

<<< Two myths dominate public discussion of Europe in America today. The first, which would be funny but for the harm it is causing, is the notion of an "Old" and a "New" Europe. When Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld proposed this distinction in January it was taken up with malicious alacrity on the Pentagon cheerleading bench. In The Washington Post Anne Applebaum enthusiastically seconded Rumsfeld: Britain, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic (the signatories to a letter in The Wall Street Journal supporting President Bush) have all "undergone liberalization and privatization" of their economies, she wrote, bringing them closer to the American model. They, not the "Old Europe" of France and Germany, can be counted on in the future to speak for "Europe." The idea that Italy has embarked on "economic liberalization" will come as news to Italians, but let that pass. The more egregious error is to suppose that "pro-American" Europeans can be so conveniently distinguished from their "anti-American" neighbors. In a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, Europeans were asked whether they thought "the world would be more dangerous if another country matched America militarily." The "Old European" French and Germans—like the British—tended to agree. The "New European" Czechs and Poles were less worried at the prospect. The same poll asked respondents whether they thought that "when differences occur with America, it is because of [my country's] different values" (a key indicator of cultural anti-Americanism): only 33 percent of French respondents and 37 percent of Germans answered "yes." But the figures for Britain were 41 percent; for Italy 44 percent; and for the Czech Republic 62 percent (almost as high as the 66 percent of Indonesians who feel the same way). In Britain, the Daily Mirror, a mass-market tabloid daily that has hitherto supported Tony Blair's New Labour Party, ran a full-page front cover on January 6 mocking Blair's position; in case you haven't noticed, it informed him, Bush's drive to war with Iraq is about oil for America. Half the British electorate opposes war with Saddam Hussein under any circumstances. In the Czech Republic just 13 percent of the population would endorse an American attack on Iraq without a UN mandate; the figure in Spain is identical. In traditionally pro-American Poland there is even less enthusiasm: just 4 percent of Poles would back a unilateralist war. In Spain, voters from José Maria Aznar's own Popular Party overwhelmingly reject his support for the war; his allies in Catalonia have joined Spain's opposition parties in condemning "an unprovoked unilateral attack" by the US on Iraq; and most Spaniards are adamantly opposed to a war with Iraq even with a second UN resolution. As for American policy toward Israel, opinion in "New European" Spain is distinctly less supportive than opinion in the "Old" Europe of Germany or France. >>> nybooks.com