Thinking Meat

Unbelievable

OK, look. I can deal when a senile old Left-wing icon parades his moonbattery for all to see. I can understand when confirmed idiotarians utter inanities and display the most sophomorically obtuse moral equivalence. Conversely, I have learned to expect the "enlightened, sophisticated, tolerant" Western Europeans to have an irrational hostility towards the United States (whose power they somewhat understandably fear) and Israel (I have no idea what generates this). But I had no idea the idiocy had gone this far:

A leaked opinion poll shows more than half the European Union public considers Israel a threat to world peace.

Never mind the sheer on-its-face stupidity of worrying about tiny Israel being a threat to anyone other than the frustrated fascists with dreams of mass murder that Israel has the misfortune of having for neighbors. No, what's truly remarkable is that apparently people actually think of something as being a threat to world peace. Does no one realize how stupid this is? What "world peace"? When has the world ever been at peace? What reason is there to think that such a condition is even desirable, much less achievable? Are the likes of Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Iran, Burma, or Syria really the kinds of outfits we want to be on great terms with? Do these Europeans, whose own wealth and liberty has been paid for with so much blood -- most of it not even theirs -- really believe that "world peace" can come about as long as you just leave every bloody dictator unchecked? Have they seriously accepted the notion that nothing is worth fighting for, except stopping globalization, getting government checks, and banning popular food?

Apparently so.

Not that this newfound apathy has checked European arrogance at all; quite to the contrary. This sanitized version of the survey (PDF, 185 KB) shows that for all its cravenness, Europe still has remarkable gall: When asked who should be in charge of rebuilding Iraq, 58% voted for the UN, 44% for the Provisional Government, and, in what must have been self-parodying haughtiness, 25% for the European Union. Only 18% wanted the the current situation, where the U.S. is in charge. On the other hand, when it came to paying for the reconstruction, 65% wanted to stick Americans with the bill, as compared to 44% for the UN, and 24% for the EU.

The percentages obviously indicate that people could select more than one response, but it's still remarkable that nearly half the people surveyed wanted the U.S. to pay for the reconstruction without being in charge of it. Very sophisticated of them, I must say. (In fairness, it's worth noting that 54% of Europeans are in favor of their country's "financial participation" in rebuilding Iraq, though that phrasing is much more ambiguous than Who should finance the reconstruction of Iraq?)

It should be noted that this is not just an Axis of Weasel thing. Specifically, 61% of Britons want the U.S. to pay for reconstruction, while only 20% want the U.S. in charge. This compares favorably with France (60/10) and Germany (84/23). Least grabby are the Italians, with 50% saying the U.S. should pay, and 22% saying the U.S. should be in charge. Which still seems to indicate a remarkable degree of presumption.

Speaking of presumption, here's a fun fact: 81% of Europeans think the EU should "play an effective role in resolving of the peace process in the Middle East." (You gotta love that phrase: resolving the peace process.) Italy and the openly pro-Arab Greece are the biggest cheerleaders for EU meddling, with 89 and 90%, respectively. In all countries, deeper EU involvement is a clear winner with over two-thirds support. Seems like no matter how many times they are told to butt out, the Europeans just can't help themselves.

Getting back to Iraq for a moment, the surveyed Euros overwhelmingly wanted UN and/or UN peacekeeping forces to guarantee security in Iraq (43% and 19%), rather than the U.S. alone (6%), with the coalition (5%), or commanding a UN force (11%). Which brings up three possibilities: the Europeans are slow learners; the Europeans have forgotten about the UN's abysmal peacekeeping track record; or the Europeans are just trying to contain the hyper-power and don't really care about providing real security in Iraq. After all, it's not like they have to live there.

You'll notice there's no reference in the PDF file to those eeeevil world-peace-bustin' Israelis. That's because this version of the survey is incomplete, containing only ten of the fifteen questions asked.

Here is some more omitted data demonstrates with painful clarity that the enormous effort to keep Europe free has been as wasted as the huge resources Europe spends on educating its supposedly sophisticated public:

The same survey has the United States beating out Iran, Iraq and North Korea – the trio dubbed the "axis of evil" by President George W. Bush – as well as Afghanistan in a ranking of what countries contribute most to world instability. . .

The poll found 59 percent of Europeans believe Israel represents the biggest obstacle to Mideast and world peace.

I'm normally not into full-on Eurobashing, but . . .fifty-nine percent. Combined with the parts of the survey, Europe comes off yet again as a continent rife with arrogant, cynical, self-righteous appeasers. The good guys on the scene all the best of luck. Europe needs to re-establish its grip on reality, or else the world will get a whole lot uglier in a really big hurry.

Update: Steven Den Beste calls today's Europe effete. I think that just about sums it up, though I would add arrogant in there somewhere.