Why Europe Must Learn the Language of Power
I'm just back from another stimulating Digital Life Design (DLD) conference in Munich where all the talk was about the growing technological and political gap with the United States and China. From Machiavelli and Hobbes to Napoleon and Bismarck, Europe invented the modern concept of state power. But decades of outsourcing security to NATO and the US have left the continent dangerously rusty both in the language and execution of power. According to Marta Mucznik, a senior analyst at the Brussels-based left-leaning International Crisis Group, "projecting power is the language of today's world." And unless European politicians relearn it, Mucznik warns, that growing gap between Europe and the bipolar reality of a US-China centric world will only continue to dramatically widen.
Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
The Art of a Deal with the Devil: on Faustian Bargains from Shakespeare and Goethe to Thomas Mann and Donald Trump
When the United Nations Actually Mattered: Remembering the Burmese Schoolteacher who Ran the U.N. in its Glory Days
How Evil 'Big Car' Has Killed More People Than World War II
The Double Life of Robert McNamara: How America's 'Best and Brightest' Led the Nation into Vietnam While Knowing the War Was Unwinnable
The World's Worst Bet: How America Gambled Dumbly on Globalization and Lost
Demystify Science and Humanize Scientists: How to Rebuild Scientific Trust in our Angry MAHA Times
From Borges to Brain Scans: How our Minds Invent Reality
The Hypocrisy of Trump's War on Universities: How Wealthy Families Game the College Admission Process
Borders are Back, Baby: From Trump and Transylvania to Brexit and Bolivia's Navy
Beware of another Silicon Valley Win-Win-Win: Can users, publishers and tech companies really all benefit from the AI revolution?
Every Day, Computers are Making People Easier to Use: The Return of IN FORMATION
Is Roman Polanski really worth defending?
How Parents Have Become the Social Media in Their Kids' Lives: So Taking Away Phones Won't Alone Fix the Teen Mental Health Crisis