Originally posted by EarthUnificationFrontier
Europe is still suffering from the lack of labour and a low birth rate affecting its work force, that is a long term problem, give it a chance.
Germany did recovery fast after WWII, especially during the Cold War, for political reasons. Nonetheless from a war torn nation Germany established itself as the third, or forth country with the highest GNP.
No Europes lack of population growth is due to the fact their lifestyle changes have resulted in families having less children and the use of birth control is the highest it has been in Western history. Europe has shaken off the effects of WW2 (save for some regards Russia) and owe their low birth rate to the fact with a large immigrant labor force they don't need to have large families anymore.
And yes West Germany did recover rather fast after the war even though Stalin did impose the blockade and Nikita put up the wall but hey who overcame those problems America . The Berlin airlift the largest humanitarian airlift in history was under the command of who? The United States Airforce
Yes Germany is a great nation but as I said above the greatness of Germany was built on the West side and when it reunited with the East it absorbed a group of people who had never experienced unemployment. So when they realized the potential in social welfare a lot of people in the East refused to seek new jobs and simply have been sucking off of Germany's rather large social welfare systems teet for quite some time.
As for the war on terroorism, being as an American Agent47 you have no place to critisize the Spanish or British authority on the success of the Madrid and London terrorist attacks. Even with the branch of CIA spreading as far from Tokyo to Israel, from Liberia to Seoul, covering virtually the entire globe, and with the Navy SEALS or the Delta Force claiming to be the best special forces on the planet, i see no prevention for the catastrophic destruction of the Twin Towers and attack on the Pentagon itself, a symbolism emble for the American military might and power, causing more than 5 times the civilian casualties with the bombings of Madrid and London added together.
[edit on 20-12-2005 by EarthUnificationFrontier]
Yes as a person on the planet Earth (beyond being an American) I must deal with the threat of global terrorism so I do have the ability to hold an opinion of how the rest of the world deals with the problem.
Quite simply after Madrid the Spanish gave up . They elected a leftist president and quickly withdrew from the effort in Iraq to stabilize the Middle East with democracy.
And on another note I'm a subject of the queen too So being a dual citizen I have the right to question Tony Blair and his response. I choose not too because it was a lot better than the Spaniards.
And your claims concerning 9/11
The military (SEALs, Delta Force) and the intelligence agencies can't do much when they were practically neutered in the 1970s of their power to conduct effective counter terror operations. That is not to say the intelligence agencies couldn't have done a better job but I don't agree with your critique of American special forces. They operate when a threat is seen and prior to 9/11 America was too dumb fat and happy to see a threat.
And another thing if you didnt know most countries intelligence agencies operate on a global scale. If you don't believe me check out the Massad or China's intelligence aparatus.
You can't really compare 9/11 to Madrid and London simply because they happened after the threat of global terorism had been realized. Has there been an American domestic terror attack since 9/11? I don't think so but after 9/11 terror still struck in Madrid and London because they didn't see the threat of islamofacism as a real one. Rather short sided for countries that rely heavily on Arab immigration for labor.
! 
