It is ironic that since September 11, the United States has adopted the Bismarckian approach to foreign policy, dominant in late-nineteenth-century Europe, placing dramatic displays of military might at the heart of its strategy. Europeans, meanwhile, have behaved more like early-twentieth-century American idealists, advocating measured and principled foreign interventions. Today's [US] leaders no longer resemble former Secretaries of State Dean Acheson and John Foster Dulles, with their deep personal knowledge of Europe and its heritage. Today, in the eyes of many Americans, Europe is neither a subject nor an object of history. To assume, as some Americans do, that a country's degree of modernity is determined by its standing in Washington is misguided and narcissistic in the extreme. Europe feels that it must exist as an alternative to the United States -- a different and better West. It is unfortunate that Europeans have not chosen to define themselves positively in the name of a clear project from Europe. Between the American South and the American North, between the US and Europe, echoes of the same pattern, and all playing the wrong game. Apparently it is not just our neighbors to the South that Americans no longer have time for. Our influence is everywhere, but our minds are on Trista and Ryan's wedding. Reinventing the West | 
