I think you give Europeans too much credit when you say we are trying to build a decent society for the continent and it is the American conservatives who hinder us. The neoliberal rot has already spread to the core of our institutions. The Barroso commission's deregulation schemes are hardly caused by American arm-twisting. When Austria's finance minister announces plans to privatize the railways and build a social security fund with the proceeds he doesn't get his orders from the American embassy. And even the worst of our politicians have an indigenous power base, be it the Mafia or the Catholic Church.

On the other hand the US has meddled extensively in our political and media landscape. As Tim Weiner writes in Legacy of Ashes 5% of Marshall plan funds were made available to the CIA for bribing politicians media outreach and whatever else it cooked up. And the Gladio-network was active at least until 1990 and maybe still is.


The plural of anecdote is bullshit.