The ’38th Annual Munich Conference on Security Policy’ (will there be a 39th?) seems to be…shall we say, in a little difficulty. When the German press accuses the US of being on an ‘ego-trip’ one can safely infer that things are not exactly getting off on the right foot.
All the more so when you read accusations like this:
“The Americans call on the Europeans to spend more money on defence, while the Europeans accuse the Americans of being too self-willed and not interested in a real partnership”
For the benefit of non-British readers, allow me to translate the above phrase into English:
“The Americans are wicked for not sharing our crippling moral relativism and post-colonial guilt and selfish because they refuse to subsidise our defence costs while we pour all our resources into our bloated welfare sectors”
There is a wealth of analysis in the linked article but, for me, the most telling lines are in the conclusion:
“But the disquiet in Europe is not only about differences on security issues, or the war on terror, or the shift in the Middle East peace process. There’s another, deeper, perhaps existential (to use a favourite European word) element: all this is happening as the Europeans are trying to redefine exactly who they themselves are, concludes Newsweek”
‘Defining’ oneself is more usually about defining what your are against rather than what you are for. It’s a lot easier. It looks like the European elite is already well down the road to defning itself as against the US.
