My beloved Western Civilization

I thought about one of the conclusions of the report from ECFR yesterday where the Chinese have been more interested in our culture than we have in theirs which, according to the report, have resulted in a disadvantage in terms of the balance of trade between the EU and China.

I don't see any risk in Europe or the Western civilization being taken over by Muslim culture. However, the Asians might become a more important influence with their old and important cultures. But overall, globalization is a rather dominant mark on many cultures and it is distinctively Western. China is for example poised to become the country with the most Christian and Muslim followers.

What could hamper a positive development of the Western civilization, or rather Europes part in it, are nationalistic trends. The interesting thing with the ECFR report is that it did not clearly take a stand for that an improvement of the performance of the EU would result from closer integration. It delivered arguments both for and against. In this sense a disillusionary tale. It placed the EU as a global invalid.

European provincialism might then be the cause of not knowing the game of the Chinese or the Americans while spending too much time on the 27 cultures of Europe, when the EU in reality must act as a unit globally. A significant proportion of Europeans must interest themselves in the World. There is, for example, always going to be enough Swedes taking care of Sweden. I have also heard some snyde comments from Asians about our predilection for the Middle East problems. They don't seem to know why we are so interested in this culture. Might it be that they are not impressed themselves. After all, the Muslims of the Middle East comes to Europe because they like it and not the other way around. Personally I'm not a great believer in political Islam.

Israel and the Palestinians are an exception of course as is well understood from the pictures coming from this area during the stay of the Pope. The historic and religious importance of this little area, also the only route to Africa during the ice ages, is fundamental. The Jews, the Christians and the Muslims belong there. Especially so the Jews, the inventors of the Abrahamitic monoteism. It is their spot on Earth and it is Divine. Perhaps even for China in the future. The Sumerian and Egyptian cultures are of course also our cradle and the potential for tourism is grand in the light of peace.

Total trade with North America from Europe is $2tn whereas it with China is only $400bn. The trans-Atlantic relation is our future. Americans share our cultural heritage and civil society is developed in a similar fashion. North America and EU is the Yin and Yang of the world right now. The most important challenge is how to develop this society further while the rest of the world is catching up with globalization.