Quote:
Originally posted by tambourine-man
Contrary to popular belief, traditional concepts view Yin and Yang not as polar opposites. There is not simply light and dark, good and bad, purity and corruption... Nor are they mutually exclusive within a single country or administration!
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This is actually the point I was trying to make, that they shouldn't oppose us just for the sake of opposing us. Yin and Yang is a fluid concept as you well know, and I chose Yang for the US because it's quick to anger, but elements of both sides exist in everything. I only used it as an analogy but we'll take a closer look.
Yin/Yang does not equal good/bad in any way, the two are morally neutral. Though Bush doesn't understand this I do so I know that Europe's opposition is necessary at times. I supported the invasion for ethical reasons, I saw Saddam as a threat and his removal was for the greater good. Bush et al probably invaded Iraq for political reasons, they used Saddam as a scapegoat. Europe, realizing that Bush was doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, decided he needed to be set straight. Then they proceeded to make the same mistake by using Bush as their scapegoat for political gain, doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. As Yin and Yang, Europe and the US would inevitably try to maintain an equal balance of power thereby minimizing the dammage that one world power left alone would cause. But I think both sides have caused harm and our responsibility to help each other is not being fulfilled.
Though they couldn't stop us from going to war Europe should try harder to get us to finish what we've started. Likewise we should try harder to get Europe involved in anti-terrorism since it affects us both. Is any of this going to get accomplished when politicians, both American and European, care only about their elections? The world could use a little more cooperation and I wouldn't count on the US to fix everything.