James R. Rummel

I am a self defense instructor who lives in Columbus, Ohio.

Divergent Views

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It’s no secret that I’d like to see a more vibrant and dynamic Europe. That probably won’t happen in my lifetime, though. The path that most European countries have chosen leads to gradual insignificance rather than any revitalized role on the world stage.

I was idly reading this news item, which details the debate in France over the coming vote to ratify the EU Constitution, when I was struck dumb by a few paragraphs which outline the position of those opposed to ratification.

Like Chirac, “no” campaigners on the left have been using the United States as a foil, saying the treaty will open the door to American-style free-market capitalism rather than defend against it. They say jobs will be sucked eastward where labor is cheaper; public services will be privatized; France will be forced by EU competition laws to stop funding public firms and workers’ social protections will be trampled. They say a “no” vote will rescue rather than doom Europe.

So that’s what the French are afraid of, basically free market reforms that will increase competition. Nothing new there, but what was so shocking to me was that this is the stance taken by Le Pen, a French politician that is characterized as being “far right” by the press.

If this is the state of French political thought then I doubt they’ll be able to turn things around no matter how the ratification vote goes.

It Will Never Pass

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According to this news item, the House International Relations Committee has drafted a bill that will require sweeping reforms at the United Nations. If they don’t comply then the United States will withhold up to 50% of its yearly dues.

The United Nations is in the midst of a fiscal crisis. The organization relies on member states paying yearly dues in order to remain solvent, but in recent years many governments have cut back on the amount of money they pay. Private donations are also falling off mainly because people are finally waking up to the fact that the organization is completely inefficient and wasteful, if not downright inept and corrupt. Their handling of the tsunami crises, as well as their attempts to steal credit for the good works of others, certainly didn’t help matters any.

So far as the HIRC is concerned, it has been one of the driving forces in the United States government to bring accountability to the UN. It’s a thankless job, but someone should have done it long ago. Making future dues payments conditional on reforms is brilliant, and it hits the UN where it hurts.

But I think the bill is doomed to failure, even though I think it’s a good idea and wouldn’t mind seeing it in place. There are two reasons for this.

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Gee, You Think?

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The Council on Foreign Relations has sponsored a new report. It seems that most college educated people in Egypt, Morocco and Indonesia have a great deal of hostility towards the United States. The headlines of the news stories about the report say “Muslim World Largely Anti-American”.

The report goes on to say pretty much what one would expect. The people surveyed rejected the US reasons for the Iraq invasion, voiced strong anti-Semitic stereotypes, and were either unaware of the aid that the United States has provided to the Muslim world or underestimated it by at least two orders of magnitude.

CoFR says that these attitudes can be changed by long term diligence. America has to listen, draw attention to the good works that we perform, and assume a “humbler tone”. They also say that we have to tolerate disagreement on key security issues.

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Caught Between The Rock and Hollywood

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According to this news item, the big issue at Cannes this year is how 70% of all European movie ticket sales are to American films.

If you read the item you’ll see that there’s a great deal of both confusion and emotion involved. The French are so upset that they’re claiming that any picture funded by American studios is a US movie, and so ineligible to compete in French film festivals. This includes the Harry Potter films, movies that have nothing to do with America except that dollars were used to produce it.

It’s understandable that the Europeans are interested in this issue. American culture, particularly US popular culture, is incredibly appealing. The appeal seems to cross many cultural lines, something that is very puzzling to the cultural elites in Europe.

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Most of the World has a Complex About Their Military and Their Industry

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In a post I mentioned that the US military budget will soon equal 50% of all defense spending on the planet. (If we haven’t already passed that particular milestone.)

Keith, the author of the excellent gunblog Anthroblogogy, has left a comment asking why this is so. He wonders if it’s due to a sudden and massive US increase in spending, or if it is simply the result of a gradual decline in foreign military budgets.

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