EMPIRE FALLS So much for innocents abroad

My wife and I recently spent a weekend in Paris, where on a rainy afternoon, while waiting to get in at the Musée d’Orsay, we had an interesting conversation with two older English couples visiting the city for the weekend. Well, what did they think of the Global War on Terror and all that? "Welcome to the club," was their response, with a weary look of resignation. "Now you’re finally in it like the rest of us." One gentleman said that while America has always been geographically isolated, the war in Iraq now has it politically isolated for the first time. "The whole world is basically against you," he said, adding, "there are very few voices of support anymore for the US in Europe."

The Brits were exasperated that we had screwed up the political magic of our physical isolation, and the inherent innocence of being a sea away from the world’s oldest problems. Too bad, they said, but it’s happened to the best of us.

All of the countries and people in Europe have to live in the wake of a particular continuum of issues and problems, from wars and conflicts of empire to long-ago emperors. Finally, we too have stepped in it, the mess that is the continuum.

The point of the problem was not the simple wrong or right of ousting Saddam, an obviously bad person, but the implications it would trigger with other people and countries around the world, now and generations from today. As President Bush has acknowledged, the outcome of the war on terror and his attempt at "promoting democracy" in the Middle East won’t be known for a long time. However, this is a perilous road familiar to European colonialists.

As the world quickly comes together through international communications and business, or just a weekend visit to Paris, "Old Europe" may have a leg up on an increasingly isolated America. For one thing, it is not isolated. The Europeans travel. The roughly two-dozen countries that make up the continent have been living together, and visiting with each other on weekends, for quite some time. Despite all of the different languages, they share a common currency, and a hard-fought, but healthy respect for differences. Puritanical Americans have long noted the blasé of Europeans when it comes to matters of rule and law, but perhaps the ennui is a wisdom born of the endless complications of conflict and war.

On the international stage, George W. Bush more represents the idea that "All Politics is National," while John Kerry sees it like most Europeans, that "All Politics is International." He may be forward-looking, at least for an American electorate that, like our president, rarely leaves the country, and finds comfort in simple (simplistic?) and direct answers to questions. However, whether it’s the war or the economy, both issues are increasingly international in dimension. The future success of American businesses, and jobs in the post-NAFTA US will be a matter of global, not national, economics.

The international perception of our foreign policy will very much matter for such US businesses as Boeing. Can it compete evenly with the European conglomerate Airbus if the world is against our military actions? Will American companies face a form of blowback — the unexpected consequences of policy — by having to go international or go bust?

In the age of ongoing nuclear proliferation, security will increasingly be a matter of multilateral cooperation. The European Union, with geographically closer ties to Africa and the Middle East, suddenly seems not only larger than the US, but more importantly, a bigger influence in the hearts and minds of the world community. As the Europeans strive toward more egalitarianism, they practice what we preached for years: "That in the final analysis, we all breathe the same air, live on the same planet, and hope for a better future for our children."

Can this statement — first uttered by John F. Kennedy, after lessons learned in the standoff with the Soviets — be taught by another JFK, to another generation?

By Chip Benson