LONDON -- There is a long tradition of learned American commentators interpreting Europe seriously -- and sometimes comically -- wrong.
Recent examples are the much-quoted thesis of the American writer Robert Kagan that Europeans are gentle appeasers and reluctant enforcers -- all "from Venus" in contrast to the allegedly tough Americans "from Mars" -- or U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's crude division of Europe into the "old" (anti-American and anti-Iraq war) and the "new" (pro-American and pro-Iraq war) or, going back a bit, the absurd insistence of former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that there should be one telephone number to ring in Europe to find out the Continent's stance on any foreign-policy issue.
Most recently, the well-known American author Jeremy Rivkin has gone even further, writing glowingly about "The European Dream" and talking of Europe as though it was a new and unified entity that is actually eclipsing America.