The Cellar - View Single Post - It's all about Iraq! No it's about Europe

Undertoad · 03-14-2003, 02:15 PM

http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.p...-03-15&id=2882

Mark Steyn explains why the last two months of negotiation and diplomacy have not been about Iraq after all, but about Europe - by framing the entire picture as another stage in European decline.

"What we’ve seen in the last few weeks is that for Europeans the real clash of civilisations is not between Islam and the West but between what the French call 'Anglo-Saxon' capitalism and Eurostatism."

Further summary: Europe's welfare state is slowly failing, due to an aging population and declining birth rates. It is completely dependent on immigrants to survive, but its actual standard of living is stagnating while the third world gets its act together. Arab reformation would be bad for them, because it could stop the Arabs from moving to Europe. Its pride gives it an unrealistic view of itself, but history has not been kind to similar cultures.

03-14-2003, 02:15 PM	#1
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	It's all about Iraq! No it's about Europe http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.p...-03-15&id=2882 Mark Steyn explains why the last two months of negotiation and diplomacy have not been about Iraq after all, but about Europe - by framing the entire picture as another stage in European decline. "What we’ve seen in the last few weeks is that for Europeans the real clash of civilisations is not between Islam and the West but between what the French call 'Anglo-Saxon' capitalism and Eurostatism." Further summary: Europe's welfare state is slowly failing, due to an aging population and declining birth rates. It is completely dependent on immigrants to survive, but its actual standard of living is stagnating while the third world gets its act together. Arab reformation would be bad for them, because it could stop the Arabs from moving to Europe. Its pride gives it an unrealistic view of itself, but history has not been kind to similar cultures.