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asia
December 2009 
Is Europe a greater Switzerland?
Posted on Oct 4th, 2009
by 
Albert
Albert
Fareed Zakarias take on Obama needs a complimentary view. I found two voices who-interestingly-compared and questioned Europe with a greater Switzerland.
The first voice is from UK: Timothy Garton Ash is writing at the Guardian:
Europe must decide if it wants to be more than Greater Switzerland
Now there's a great deal to be said for being Switzerland. Really. (Unless you're Roman Polanski, just at the moment, but that's another story.) The question is: are we Europeans happy to settle for that? Is that all we want to be in the 21st century? I suspect that in their hearts many Europeans will answer "yes". Or perhaps more accurately: they will not be prepared to vote and pay for doing the things that would be required if we wanted to be more than that. So the answer will come by default, rather than explicit choice.
The trouble with this is that, in the longer run, by choosing to be only a Greater Switzerland we will gradually lose the conditions that make it possible to actually be a greater Switzerland. For the point of having a European foreign policy is not power in itself, but the power to protect and advance interests that are increasingly shared between all European countries, and challenged in a world of non-European giants.
read more.
The second voice is one of the most brilliant and provocative thinkers of Asia. Its Kishore Mahbubani. He really likes to play it rough. Interesting that German chancellor Angela Merkel quoted from his new book two days ago when the German Day of Unity was celebrated. European leaders slowly learn what the rise of Asia menas.
Europe is a geopoltical dwarf
"....
The first voice is from UK: Timothy Garton Ash is writing at the Guardian:
Europe must decide if it wants to be more than Greater Switzerland
Now there's a great deal to be said for being Switzerland. Really. (Unless you're Roman Polanski, just at the moment, but that's another story.) The question is: are we Europeans happy to settle for that? Is that all we want to be in the 21st century? I suspect that in their hearts many Europeans will answer "yes". Or perhaps more accurately: they will not be prepared to vote and pay for doing the things that would be required if we wanted to be more than that. So the answer will come by default, rather than explicit choice.
The trouble with this is that, in the longer run, by choosing to be only a Greater Switzerland we will gradually lose the conditions that make it possible to actually be a greater Switzerland. For the point of having a European foreign policy is not power in itself, but the power to protect and advance interests that are increasingly shared between all European countries, and challenged in a world of non-European giants.
read more.
The second voice is one of the most brilliant and provocative thinkers of Asia. Its Kishore Mahbubani. He really likes to play it rough. Interesting that German chancellor Angela Merkel quoted from his new book two days ago when the German Day of Unity was celebrated. European leaders slowly learn what the rise of Asia menas.
Europe is a geopoltical dwarf
"....
But the rising tide of insecurity in European hearts and minds also means that Europe cannot continue to be a giant Switzerland, which Mr Rachman suggested in his column this week it has become. The Swiss can feel secure because they are surrounded by Europe. The Europeans can only feel insecure because they are surrounded by an arc of instability, from north Africa to the Middle East, from the Balkans to the Caucasus. To make matters worse, the age-old Christian obsession with the threat of Islam has become far more acute, with Islamophobia rising to new heights in European cultures....
Given Europe's ability to dominate the world for almost 500 years, it is remarkable how poorly it is responding to new geopolitical....."
Access: Public
such a wonderful information for me.i am really impress it.
absolute acaiberry
Very interesting thinking and approach. I appreciate the authors.
Surely, if the EU became a greater Switzerland that would be an enormous democratic improvement?
Acai Berry