Judging from the recent content we’ve been translating, European concern that the United States and China are sidelining a disunited Old Continent seems to be reaching something of a fever pitch.
Likening Washington to ancient Rome of the fifth century, Thomas Klau of the Financial Times Deutschland warns Europeans that the largest debtor [the U.S.] and the largest creditor [China] might not share the cultural bonds of Europe and the United States – but they are bound by something perhaps even more significant – money.
Comparing Washington to ancient Rome and the Chinese to the barbarian hordes, Klau writes in part:
“Amidst the current crisis, Washington is still Rome – but it’s the Rome of the fourth or perhaps even the fifth century – and the barbarians aren’t just at the gates, they’re already in the city. However, these barbarians aren’t vandals. This time they are emissaries of a land with a high, millennia-old culture. Nonetheless their ways seem strange because they don’t favor democracy. Unlike the Visigoth, King Alaric I [photo box, left], the Chinese aren’t coming to take money; they’re coming to bring it. ”
Klau then warns his European readers:
“If the administrative centers of Europe weren’t so preoccupied with their own plight and if we had governing structures that organized and encouraged European thinking rather that talk of petty nationalisms, then we could consider how to prevent the nightmare of a global G2-duopoly composed of the world’s biggest debtor and largest creditor. … Obama will soon make his first trip to Europe as U.S. president. That’s reassuring; politically speaking: with his interest in the welfare state and environmental protection and his training as a constitutional lawyer, Obama may feel more comfortable among Europeans than with representatives of authoritarian systems, no matter how sophisticated and cultured they may be. But Obama has many problems and little time – and China has the money that the Americans need.”
By Thomas Klau*
Translated By Jonathan Lobsien
March 13, 2009
Germany – Financial Times Deutschland – Original Article (German)
America and China need one another like never before. Europe must see to it that it isn’t shunted aside. If Europeans don’t combine their weight, they will suffer the fate of the British.
From the financial crisis came an economic crisis, which is now resulting in a social crisis – the likes of which the wealthy parts of the world haven’t experienced since the post-war years. In most European countries, poverty is cushioned by the welfare state – even if as in Germany, benefits have become more restricted and more than bad food and a heated room is no longer guaranteed.
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