The English-language website of Germany’s weekly news magazine DER SPIEGEL
(circulation about 850,000; according to THE ECONOMIST, one of continental
Europe's most influential magazines) currently features an article in its
‘International’ section entitled:
"Moral Emptiness — Donald Trump and the Erosion of American Greatness"
In posting this link I am not wholeheartedly endorsing the views expressed (and
I will not here indulge in a critique to point out where I disagree).
But what I think will be of particular interest to list members is the author’s
explication in the ultimate paragraphs about where he and many other Europeans
'are coming from’ (and it is far from some place engendering a ‘holier than
thou’ stance) when they express concern about American politics in such a
critical tones:
"I lived in Berlin a couple of decades ago and saw the capital return ... This
was the consummation of the miracle: Germany unified, within NATO, its borders
no longer contested. The German problem that over decades had caused sleepless
nights to thousands of American diplomats and agents had been resolved.
"I would cross the Polish border sometimes. ... I had to pinch myself, with the
border near invisible, to recall that these were "Bloodlands," in Timothy
Snyder's phrase, the last resting place of millions. Yet here, only decades
later, there stretched before me the tranquility that NATO, the European Union
and statesmanship had brought.
"None of this would have happened without the trans-Atlantic alliance, without
the Berlin airlift and the Marshall Plan, without America as a European power -
without everything Trump appears to hold in contempt. Constancy and strength in
pursuit of strategy are wearing on their opponents. Chaos, on the other hand,
gives foes a sense of opportunity.
"It was not only Germans who enjoyed what Helmut Kohl once called "the blessing
of late birth." In some way, every post-war European did. We succumb at our
peril to amnesia. It is for the young to forge the 21st century. ... The
precepts of the last century, and its power structure, cannot be forever fixed
in stone.
"Yet we should not forget from what horror Pax Americana emerged. As Merkel and
French President Emmanuel Macron flesh out a distinct European destiny - as
they should in this era of Trump - they must be mindful of preserving the
American bond, in the hope of better days. They must also speak out strongly
for the values Trump's America has forsaken.
"Perhaps Senator John McCain ... has offered the best rebuke to Trump:
“ 'To refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain
'the last best hope of earth' for the sake of some half-baked, spurious
nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve
problems is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the
past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history.
“ 'We live in a land made of ideals, not blood and soil. We are the custodians
of those ideals at home, and their champion abroad. We have done great good in
the world. That leadership has had its costs, but we have become incomparably
powerful and wealthy as we did. We have a moral obligation to continue in our
just cause, and we would bring more than shame on ourselves if we don't. We
will not thrive in a world where our leadership and ideals are absent. We
wouldn't deserve to.'
“Amen.”
The full article is to be found at:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/roger-cohen-on-trump-and-the-erosion-of-american-greatness-a-1176642.html
Chris Bruce,
in Kiel, Germany
P.S.: “Anno Crembalum” ??? Enter it into Google’s translation service.
- cb
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