http://whenyourerightyoureright.blogspot.com/2006/01/i-know-all-about-america-i-saw-it-on.html

disclosure: it’s not my blog, i just happened to read his post before this one. he’s an american expat in germany.

9/11 has done a lot to make America aware of its position and role in the world. Another difference in Europe is that in order to even go on vacation, you just about have to learn a foreign language and learn about a foreign culture. And most professionals cannot get by without at least one foreign language.

I think that the US stopped ignoring the world on 9/11/2001. It will be quite some time before it goes back to ignoring the world. You are correct that thiis *is* the preferred and default US position, which is why we make such an excellent preeminent power. All in all, we just aren’t ego driven to conquer the world and if the world would get its act into gear, we’d be quite happy to go home and let somebody else do the heavy lifting.

I’d like to think that if the US were occupied, we’d act differently. We wouldn’t like foreign troops on our soil (we don’t today while we’re generally on top) but I don’t think that we’d react to complaints from occupying Germans that we don’t spend enough on our military the same way continental Europe has reacted to US criticisms that their military spending is too low.

I was over-generalizing a bit. But I find it ironic that the only period of German history that most Americans know about is 1933-45, one that a lot of German are still in the dark over.

That is a prejudice imo. TV News from the USA actually report about Nations and areas of the world which are never covered in the german media (Africa & South-East-Asia for example). And i’m pretty sure the number of people that don’t care about the rest of the world is pretty equal in the US and Europe. I know more than enough people that don’t give a fart about the rest of the world and i guess you know where i live…

I would say that neither the US or Germany has a clue about the other. The difference lies in the fact that the US public simply ignores the rest of the world, while the Germans are quick to display their cluelessness by spouting their opinions about the US at every occasion.

I suppose the situation might be reversed if there were German forces stationed in America and if the bulk of the music, films and TV series Americans watch came from Germany.

Germany (and a great many other places) is filled with a distorted media view of the United States along with other issues. The US is little better. The only difference is that the US public has awakened and is abandoning their biased, traditional media, in large part out of embarrassment. The German public does not yet seem embarrassed by being led around by the nose into a false appreciation of the realities around them.

So laugh to wake up and enjoy the ride.

While it is true that Germany sent no combat troops, Schröder still quietly allowed the USA to use its military bases in Germany as staging areas for the war. We can still see the Galaxy cargo planes flying overhead on their way to Rammstein and Zweibrücken.

It should come as little surprise if it turns out that the German Intelligence Serve was also supplying information to the US armed forces.