My impression is that most Europeans remain in flat denial of most of the two or three centuries preceding the last world war. Europe cannot reassure former colonies of our benign intentions if we don't display some measure of awareness of historical reality.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
In Congo-Brazaville, CAR, Chad and Gabon, whether or not the French public supports French policy makes very little difference. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
most Europeans remain in flat denial of most of the two or three centuries preceding the last world war
In order to project a non-hostile, non-threatening image, all of the following must be true:
The fact that their populations are living in the 21st is neither here nor there - the decision makers don't much care what their populations think.
This single fact has more predictive power about likely future foreign and domestic policy than almost any other.
the decision makers don't much care what their populations think.
