"Europe got tired of being victims of terrorism and changed their global behavior accordingly."Would like to add that most of that "terrorism" after WW2 was homegrown and not of an islamic nature. Some was/is about regional rights (Basque ETA, ...), religious (IRA, ...), civil rights/ruling class (leftist cells in Italy, Germany, Belgium, ...)
70-80s leftist cells are interesting since initially their attacks against the allmighty conservative (christian) parties were supported by a large part of the population, because the people felt that their power was out of control
Other part of the story is that most European nations are tired of war after WWII. WWII is the end of a series of wars that had been going on between France and what's now Germany for over a thousand years, not forgetting that every other nations in Europe had been involved in wars for over 2000 years. The last time Europe has known such a long period of peace was during the Pax Romana. So even as Americans tend to view Europeans as pussies, their history tells the story why they want peace now, they know what it is to have war at home.
And the last part is that Europeans now tend to accept blowback much easier, yes, even understand why.
Look at Spain for instance they accepted the consequences of going into Iraq and they moved on, instead of using it as an excuse for a variety of unethical and illegal actions.
action-reaction people, that's what it's all about
by
callisto on
07/09/2008 05:36:31 PM EST
