[Previous entry: "Thoughts on freedom of speech"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "What does morality have to do with it?"]

03 May 2003: "... Europe?"

The "Old/New Europe" phrase is still being used a fair bit, and I have to admit it irks me. When Rumsfeld coined the term, "Old Europe" was supposedly France and Germany, long the agricultural and industrial powerhouses of the EEC/EU, along with Belgium and Luxembourg, while "New Europe" is supposedly the emerging economies of Eastern (excuse me, "Central") Europe.
So what I really want to know is: where does this leave the rest of Europe, for instance the Nordic countries and—of specific interest to me—the Netherlands? I don't see how we're "Old Europe," but we're not "New Europe" either, so then what? "Second-generation Europe"? "Last year's model Europe"? "Vintage Europe"? "The bits that Rumsfeld can't find on the map Europe"?

au currant
Black Decaf
The Illiterati
Cointelpro Tool
Norman Geras
A Fistful of Euros
Harry's Place
Plastic Gangster
Blogfonte
Tim Newman
€urosavant
Crooked Timber
Gallowglass
Mr. McGillicuddy
eameljenet
Civax
101-280
Colby Cosh
Peaktalk
Mick Hartley
Oliver Kamm

Miscellanea:

Care to contribute
to the coffee fund?