Euro-Atlanticists Sentiments

Fire of Liberty

While the US print/T.V. media seems to be obsessed at pointing out that the US has angered the various leaders in Europe with its actions in Iraq and its utter disregard for European sensitivities, they fail to realize that a larger percentage of European population who still see themselves as Euro-Atlanticists who completely embrace the US as a partner for the "good fight." Luckily Olivier Guitta has written a wonderful piece over at Tech Central Station on the enormous flood of individuals who abstain from the "kick America" crowd with the likes of Spain's PM Zapatero or France's President Jacques Chirac. The Euro-Atlanticists include people like the former Spanish PM Jose Maria Aznar, former French PM Edouard Balladur, Matthias Doepfner (CEO of Germany's Axel Springer), and former Spanish foreign minister Ana Palacio. All of these individuals are only a smidgen of individuals in Europe who understand that the US is a force of good that when it teams up with the Europeans becomes an even greater democratic champion. This individuals would rather enhance this special relationship that has existed since WWII rather than through a wedge between the US and Europe like Messrs. Chirac, Zapatero and Schroeder intended to do during the run-up to or during the Iraq war. I hope the Euro-Atlanticist will have greater impact on Europe and knock some sense into the other numskulls before it's too late. After reading this, I'm more impressed about the abilities of the Euro-Atlanticists :

Palacio argued that Zapatero is a poster child for socialism of the 1930s. Indeed she added that "Zapatero sees Europe as a counterweight to the US" and is very close to Chirac's stance of siding with the non-aligned nations. For Palacio, it is stupid to pretend that "you have to choose between Europe and America… If we build a European identity just to be a counterweight to the US, then Europe may end up being Eurabia."

Indeed with around 20 million Muslims living in Europe and having trouble integrating, Europeans are facing a crisis of identity. Like Holland just realized, after the murder of Theo Van Gogh by a Muslim extremist on November 2, 2004, multiculturalism has been a blatant failure. "We have to defend our common Western values," Palacio says. "We cannot compromise on these values." She then cited the example of equal rights for men and women: "I am sorry, the Sharia may say whatever the Sharia may say but in Europe equal rights mean equal rights and this principle can not be declined according to culture."

It is refreshing to see that some Europeans dare to be courageous and clear on these thorny issues.

Well done.