Originally posted by RT and his SE:And FYI WW II ended almost 60 years ago, a lot has changed since then including a large portion of the population. They're worried about the here and now and not whether we(the US)have been thanked and patted of the fanny enough. You feed 'em, clothe 'em and put a roof over their heads but kids still growup and develop their own opinions ya know.
I wasn't talking about WWII. The Cold War ended roughly 15 years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if Europeans' attention spans are that small, but you'd think they'd at least remember that without America's nuclear umbrella, the USSR would have invaded, or at least attempted to invade, most of Europe.
...I had left out our sacrifices in WWII; thanks for bringing that up.
I just wrote a paper on this very topic. What the Europeans have decided to do is take a different approach to Diplomacy and relations. The US is still operating on a multi-lateral, Diplomacy Ale-Carte while Europeans are for a system like the EU which, for one, makes it easier for terrorists to be caught because there is a unified front against terrorist activities rather than a hodgepodge of resistance. The US is also still using Militarism as its power, which is understandable since it still have the most powerful military in the world; if you have it why not use seems to be the common ideology in the administration. The EU has a greater population yet can only muster about 60k troops, which is I believe 25% of their total forces, while the US can mobilize hundreds of thousands which is 60% of the total force. I don't remember the exact numbers but in any case it shows a clear cleavage between Euro and American military power. Therefore the Europeans have decided to also go with a "No Development without Security, No Security without Development" which basically goes at the root and tries to support unions like the African Union to developed in many ways such as aide for food, better training for security forces, and many more forms of aide. What it comes down to is many in the US believe either that the Cold War system is still valid, or that it is fading and the US must do whatever it can to affect change and grasp power. The EU among others believes that the Cold War system is over, it has been for 15 years, and are ready for a new system of relations which does not start with militarism and military deterrence which was the hallmark of the Cold War.
