Kerry, I'm responding here to your comment on the "violent undercurrents" in Europe where leftism, anti-Americanism, Anti-Semitism and radical Islam merge.

I fear this holds certainly true for the first three phenomena. Personally I often feel like I'm CHOKING over here. Just some examples of anti-Americanism. I tore pages 7 and 8 out of "De Standaard", chapter Foreign Developments, from the day before yesterday.

a.) article on Haïti: in bold "Ten years ago Aristide came back thanks to US troops, now they stayed away to let him leave". The tone of the article is that the US is to blame for getting another black despot at the helm...

b.) In bold "Iraqis are wrestling with constitution". While that may be true, the tone is set. "It's a quagmire." Given the fact that the interim constitution was ready yesterday, one could also print a more optimistic header, on much more valuable grounds.

c.) Interview with a Professor Marjorie Cohn (National Lawyers Guild USA). Bold headers:

"Europe lets itself intimidate by Bush."

"Never before civil rights were threatened so much in the US"

"Witch Hunt is going on" (referring to the Patriot Act and its implications)

Oh yeah, she was also quoted as saying: "(Guantanamo is) a lawless place, where they (the US) can do what they want without accountability to anyone. As a result 600 people have been kept for almost two years now in complete isolation, like animals in a cage. There were reports in the media on torture of Guantanamo-prisoners..."

But this was not in bold. Sigh.

The press group "De Standaard" also runs a book chain. There's NOT ONE book to find which is positive on the current Administration. At Christmas time, my wife, knowing my interests in politics and history, wanted to buy me a book on America and/or Bush. There were five of them, all, repeat ALL, negative. Oh yeah, two or three years ago she WAS able to find a Joe Klein biography on Clinton. In "De Standaard"'s book chain. Coincidence this could, but finding neutral press on GWB can not? Nope. I think some noxious agenda is at work here.

I don't have that much to say about the link left/radical Islam. I think there's not much Mainstream Leftism in contact with European Islamofascism. With Radical Left, yeah. Absolutely. Al-Zawahiri endorsed it, as an afterthought. All alliances are good, even with atheists, to beat the Great Satan.

Hey Americanos. Don't let me get you depressed you know. All over Europe there must be people like me. But John Q in the street, subjected to all the negative propaganda...

I told it before, if Americans can be accused of anything it's that they are too modest. If the French had done a hundredth of what the US did in terms of restoring peace, order and democracy on the global scale, rest assured the algae living in shallow Antarctic waters would know it.

Bwah. The Mad Belgian Troll.