by Eva Maler

Created on: October 05, 2009

Let me tell you a story of a little German girl who used to think the US of A where an amazing model country for democracy because they freed her country from the most evil regime imaginable. That little girl would be me, by the way. But somehow that little girl gradually lost her faith around the year 2003.

I was 13 years old and I wasn't alone. This loss of faith, as I would like to call it, was symptomatic for a lot of people. The United State of Awesome, cradle of modern day democracy, catalyst for the French Revolution, Saviour of Europe in two World Wars, definitely deserve some past time glamour as defenders of democracy in the past. I would not doubt the legacy of America but somehow after 1945 the US lost it. The so called Cold War was not entirely a fight of American freedom versus Soviet repression in my very personal point of view it was a war of Bad versus Worse (Bad won). But cynicism on the side I'm quite happy with the fact I'm living in the decade of Starbucks rather than in the decade of queuing and rations. Still, America left this conflict as the winner and can consequently be viewed as being in the right.

I was born in East Germany a year before the Berlin Wall fell and I am happy it did. In the euphoria of the sudden freedom to drink Coca Cola we happily overlooked the insignificant nasties (like for example the fact that the separation of Germany was made in the US rather than the SU) and America, Germany and the rest of the world could have lived happily ever after had it not been for that day that changed everything forever: 9/11.

I will assume for this article that the official version is true and Osama Bin Laden/ al-Quaeda is genuinely the baddie in this case (although the irony of history made a quite lucrative day for the American oil industry in the long run). This assumption makes the attack of Afghanistan at least 50% justifiable. If you had asked the little girl from the beginning of our story she would have waved the star-spangled banner in full support although her mother, the old communist, said that war is never fair. Most people seemed to agree though and an army was send by our then chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder.

I don't know what my view of America would have been had not one day the ex-alcoholic, Newborn Chrostian, more commonly known as "W" decided that one war isn't enough and started looking for a good enough reason to invade that big country with the even bigger oil fields. The Us stopped being the land of the free and in the European mind became the land of the fat, ignorant and super rich(not in a good way).

So far, so known. But why am I telling you this. Let's take away all those nasty facts and reduce it to the simple formula:

Big, democratic nation opts for neutrality until first Germany (1917) and then Japan(1942) successfully and stupidly provoke her to take part in a war at the other side of the world (note to self: don't step on someone's foot, if he is bigger than you), wins both wars and becomes most powerful nation of the world in shared first place with Russia, has longer breath and becomes single most powerful nation, gets bores and starts invading neutral countries for a salad ingredient.

If you are still thinking that America has more moral reasons to be a leader in world politics than, say, South Korea, raise your hand.

Anyone?

DISCLAIMER: I do not hate America, I did not fly one of those planes, I am a peace loving, European girl in her best years who would one day live in a world without wars.

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