EUROPEAN ENVY, AMERICAN ARROGANCE?

摘要

Theodore roosevelt, an excellent role model for pres ident Bush in these troubled times, came up with a good saying in 1903: "Envy and arrogance are the two opposite sides of the same black crystal." TR was referring to labor and capital, then locked in ferocious combat. But the saying applies equally well today to the relationship between continental Europe and the U.S., especially over the issue of terrorism. Envy of America is now an important aspect of EU foreign policy. It is strongest in France and Germany. The Germans have a historic envy of superior military power. We have to remember that until 1945 Germany had possessed for generations the world's finest professional army― one that could be defeated only by overwhelmingly superior forces. That source of national pride ended with the fall of Hitler. Germany's armed forces are now small, untested, underfunded and ill-equipped. They are also lacking in the morale that can only be created by successful action in combat.