Well said. Little do we realize that the cold war never ended. In the larger sense it was a great move, in a smaller sense many liken it to the Berlin Wall coming down bringing unwanted problems. Italy just starting to realize the problems as well as Germany.
The Euro Zone is great in theory. You just have to get every Euro citizen to think of themselves as citizens of the European Union first, and their nationality second. That will never, ever happen. People will always be French, German, Dutch, Czech, Polish....etc. The US would have the same problem if Americans thought of our states as higher than the country. IE, if we had New Yorkers vs. Californians.
I don't have any problem with you criticizing the government, in fact you'll find many americans doing the same. I do have a problem with making blanket generalizations and insults against americans in general though.
"That will never, ever happen. People will always be French, German, Dutch, Czech, Polish....etc." Agree, this will be hard to change. Racism exists all over, I've seen it in US but experienced it's true ugly face while working with some colleagues in some small towns in Europe. No holds barred racism there.
Part of this is because of the proximity of other nations. Folks in Arkansas....what do they have to concern themselves over? Texans? At most, they think about illegals from Mexico. The Germans, however, look to the Poles. The French to just about everyone else. The Spanish to Portagul and to the French. They're all suspiscious of each other because everyone is "different". There's no one nation, and as a result, anything that tries to force them together is going to be met with resistance. Even if it's for the better.
It may not ever happen in all areas, but the EU is certainly trying and making significant progress in both the mentality of people as well as it's legal & regulatory authority. It's interesting to watch some of the bureaucratic maneuvers the EU is attempting, particularly in the UK. When a a single entity controls monetary policy and policies which govern the population, immigration, etc it is remarkable what they can accomplish. Currently, the language and cultural differences & local politics in euro countries still differentiate the people, however if the EU continues to centralize regulatory and policy decisions, controls monetary and investment policy (which they are doing), and disperses the populations through immigration and migration - they will in effect bolster their existence as the authoritative body.
You're still assuming the French can eventually do without being "French", etc. I'm betting this won't happen.
Probably not. Nonetheless, it's worth a try. Europe has been united before, but always by force. National identities are still very strong, and maybe all this euro thing will go down the drain. But I still believe it's worth it.
The most important factor in creating the anti americanism is called BUSH. Bush offended the whole world and treated the others without any respect. He lied and will lie again to invade foreign countries. He was responsible for the increasing danger of terrorism and also for the crazy increases in energy prices. The fact that he was elected TWICE IN A ROW says a lot about the americans. No wonder the whole world turns against the US.