Recently I received a telephone call from a friend in Germany, a professor of medical engineering. He mentioned that the German government had recently staged another economic bailout of it’s banking system---just in time, he reckoned, because Germany’s financial sector was close to fiscal insolvency.

Europeans enjoy “excellent” unemployment insurance and great health care, he said. “If you need an ambulance it will be there.” The average European enjoys “an excellent life”---even with (or maybe because of) a reduced birth rate.

Despite this “excellent life“ he stated that Europeans are pessimistic. One clue to the cause of this gloomy attitude had come to him from a documentary he had seen about India. A resident of India stated that the people there are generally optimistic because they are accustomed to living in chaos and uncertainty; have always found it necessary to struggle; and believe that things can only get better.

We concluded that Europeans and Americans have a lot more to lose because we depend more heavily on our economic systems. The more you have the more you have to lose.

If we have so much to lose, I wondered, why are we Americans so reluctant to recognize imminent problems such as world-wide food shortages, depleted ocean fisheries and climate breakdown---things that could topple our economic systems.

“Because they have to stop doing something they don’t want to stop doing,” said my friend.

Later, an economist friend asked for more details about the German economy. I realized then that my European friend was far more concerned about war than the economy or anything else. To him, the poor economy was merely a sign of impending military conflicts.

The German professor’s main stated concern was that global human overpopulation would probably lead to wars that would not be good for anyone or anything including “nature.”

Like most Americans I am not as apprehensive about war as Europeans, who have had their share in history and on their soil. And they have caused their share.

But it’s more than history. The Europeans may feel anxiety about losing their swell social benefits---but they also feel caught in the middle of the jousting going on between the nuclear-military giants, the U.S. and Russia. Europe is dependent upon a flow of natural gas under Russian control. Contemplating a cut-off of these energy supplies makes them nervous.

But there’s more to it. While citizens of the U.S. tend to buy into what they are told, Europeans can see the geopolitical game being played. Europeans are more cynical because they have seen it all before. In their experience, economic uncertainty and the struggle for resources have often led to war.

Europeans may be more cynical than Americans but they are also more sophisticated. Europeans are closer to Hungary, Poland, Lithuania and the Czech Republic---countries where the U.S. wants to set up antimissile sites. They realize that the so-called US “missile shield” proposed for Russia’s European borders has little to do with protecting Russia from an Iran that maybe will be getting nuclear weapons. Europeans realize that Iran and Russia have friendly relations. And, since Russia possesses the most missiles in the region, Europeans recognize that the proposed U.S. “missile shields” are highly provocative. With “missile defense” the Europeans are even more caught in the middle.

Europeans have a different understanding of the underlying motives of the U.S. in seeking to expand NATO into the rich energy regions like Ukraine and Georgia---again, right at the borders of Russia. Europeans understand that the U.S. is seeking to surround Russia under the cover of NATO. They understand this as an act of humiliation---almost a deliberate perpetuation of the Cold War. Only Americans could seriously think of these provocative acts as expressions of our caring nature for the “freedom” of the citizens of the Caspian region nations---which just happen to be loaded with energy resources.

My economist friend (who has traveled the world) explained to me that Europeans and other people around the Planet have a more realistic perspective on the U.S.; it’s resource wars in the Middle East; the many military bases we have all over the world; and the geopolitical dangers being aggravated by our government. These things are, of course, related to our excessive spending and weak economy. However, looking at things from a European perspective, we may have more important things to worry about than just the economy.

Rudy Wittshirk