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While there may have been a grain of truth in this article in 1973 ... in 2001 it can best be described as hogwash!
Regarding US aid to Europe after WWII: At the time the US was wealthy and Europe was poor; that's what aid is about ... the haves giving to the have-nots. Nowadays, the US doesn't give aid to Europe - but Europe gives to the 3rd World (in fact, the Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands are the ONLY countries in the world that follow UN guidelines and donate at least 1% of GNP to the poor countries). I am sure that if one day the US fell into poverty Europe would help - but at present it would seem perverse to give the US money when people are starving in Africa.
Regarding aid in the form of men, materials and expertise: The US has traditionally not been interested (and even in the case of natural disasters US resources have been plentiful and foreign aid unnecessary). But I know that for instance my native Denmark has a large team of firefighters with 35 sniffer dogs (all with experience from earth quake relief) on stand-by to be sent to New York - but so far the US hasn't shown any interest.
In the case of Tuesday's disaster international moral support has been overwhelming (for those who are not aware of that, try watching the BBC or read a foreign newspaper).
As for the idiotic industrial comparisons it is obvious that only large countries have the resources to put a man on the moon - and you're not going to see Andorra or Liechtenstein producing airliners. But I wonder if mr. Sinclair has heard of Sputnik, Concorde, Airbus ... or Saab ...
Oh, and as for Parisians ... they're rude to everyone - including other Europeans and provincial Frenchmen!
Wouldn't it be great if tragedies such as Tuesday's could result in unity rather than chauvinism?
Rest assured that the civilised world is with you on this one. I'm off to the European Parliament for three minutes' silence at noon.
Best regards,
Caspar
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