in a long essay on what geopolitics will look like in the future (Europe, China and the U.S. evenly fighting it out), Parag Khanna includes an “Ode to Europe” that is surprising not by the fact that it is perhaps overly rosy-eyed, but by the fact that is doesn’t seem all that far fetched. There is no conceptual discrepancy today describing the U.S. as a dying, violent and selfish dinosaur, while extolling Europe as the paragon of virtue, inclusiveness and gentle power. Would this ever have been a likely description at any point in human history up until now?
In Europe’s capital, Brussels, technocrats, strategists and legislators increasingly see their role as being the global balancer between America and China. Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, a German member of the European Parliament, calls it “European patriotism.” The Europeans play both sides, and if they do it well, they profit handsomely. It’s a trend that will outlast both President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, the self-described “friend of America,” and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, regardless of her visiting the Crawford ranch. It may comfort American conservatives to point out that Europe still lacks a common army; the only problem is that it doesn’t really need one. Europeans use intelligence and the police to apprehend radical Islamists, social policy to try to integrate restive Muslim populations and economic strength to incorporate the former Soviet Union and gradually subdue Russia. Each year European investment in Turkey grows as well, binding it closer to the E.U. even if it never becomes a member. And each year a new pipeline route opens transporting oil and gas from Libya, Algeria or Azerbaijan to Europe. What other superpower grows by an average of one country per year, with others waiting in line and begging to join?
