Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Ironies of history

I believe that the European Union, with its single euro currency and its hyperByzantine bureaucracy in Brussels, was motivated in large part by fear of repeating the 20th century, with its two terrible German-inspired wars. Now it seems that the only hope for the EU is Germany.

For those cultural relativists who maintain the equality of all societies, it is interesting to note that the Big Players in Europe since 17th century have been the French and the English, the Russians and eventually the Germans...who got in late but sure made up for lost time. Southern Europe has been in the sidelines.

Something about Northern vs Mediterraneans cultures? (What to do with the Irish?)

Of course this is not an eternal set-up, and was once, of course, reversed. But when compared to the Northerners, who could really be shocked that Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal do not have their financial houses in order?


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The drama needs a prodigal son to take the blame for wastefulness in order to really let the Old Man of the New Europe seem loving and forgiving.

The drama also requires a responsible elder brother to keep the system going.

I hope Germany will continue to play the role of the uncelebrated elder brother to whom the old man of the New Europe hasn't even given a baby goat to dine on with his friends (Luke 15:29).

... If Germany wasn't doing all this labouring, the New Europe's sneering intellectuals wouldn't have been able to devote the post-WW2 era to kicking around their Christian heritage and its aftermath.

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