Sixty million dead!

They remember the initiation of World War II today. It was 70 years ago. Sixty million people died.

From various media I got the impression that it has become a European affair. People commented on the relatively modest presence of the US at the occasion. The US have also more or less decided against installing the gadgets in Poland and Czech Republic that were very controversial with Russia.

In a way that makes sense because the US is busy elsewhere. There is China and Japan and there is the Middle East. Europe is now a European affair of the same total GDP as the US and 495m people. Then there is Russia, of course, but Europe will deal with them day by day and in the case of Germany with a thirty year energy deal.

This is Obama's world not Cheney's. No wonder it is popular in Europe and Russia. So popular that the EU web site does not mention the US as important for peace in Europe. Also, 2/3 of the Russians believe they had taken down Germany by themselves during WWII. I hope that does not mean that the majority of Russians sees themselves as the proper rulers of Europe.

However, Europe is probably ready for this. They have the EU, or rather the member states...