The worst year ever?
Is 2012 the worst year ever?
No, that would certainly be saying too much. But bad it is, make no mistake about it. Bad, very bad.
It is, of course, not as bad as 1933, the year I was born. Then, Hitler began (more or less) the career that led to the worst war in the history of the world. Between '39 and '45, the world was burning and millions of people were killed, most in war, an awful lot in prison camps, or starving in their homes.
No, as bad as 1933 year 2012 is not. But bad, bad, bad—and very possibly getting worse.
Think of Greece, that pleasant little country on the ancient shores, where civilization (we like to think) first began. The Greeks, leaders and common folks alike, have borrowed and consumed and borrowed and consumed, like there was no tomorrow. Now, tomorrow has arrived and all kinds of banks and states have started to demand that Greece repays. Which it can not do. So will it be necessary to kick Greece out of the euro? Will others have to follow? What about Spain, Portugal and that very big country, Italy. Is the euro, in effect, shot dead on its feet? Is the euro zone, in reality, too badly constructed? Will chaos ensue, just like it did in the 1930s?
Many people all around the globe look to Germany, the European giant. Can the Germans spend a couple of hundred billion to shore up the rest of the EU?
The question is silly for two reasons:
1. The Germans don't want to pay up. Chancellor Angela Merkel simply says: Nein Danke, wir zhalen nicht. And that is it.
2. Besides, in the cold light of reality, anybody can see that not even Germany is rich enough to rescue Europe. The worst sinners, Greece, Portugal, Iceland, Spain, Italy (etc.) will have to tighten belts and change their habits. Unpleasant, but necessary.
Nobody should believe that the rescue can be brought about without pain. The Europeans have long been living above their means; they have grown used to it and take it for granted that their leaders will pay—handsomely—for their votes. For indeed, that is what has happened. Political leaders, longing to be popular (and preserve their power), doled out money among their clients and hoped for the best. You could call it careless or untidy. You could, perhaps, also refer it as bribery, maybe on a giant scale.
The fact is—and it's there for anybody to see—that the European Union has not worked. There is no true European identity. Greeks are still Greeks and Swedes are still Swedes. We used to call the U.S. the melting pot, and when the European Union was formed many people (I was one of them) thought that we would become much more like Americans. In other words, nationalistic still, perhaps, but on a much wider scale, as if the Italians, British, Swedes and Germans forgot (more or less) their “old countries” and became full-blooded Americans, all for one, one for all.
It can now be said that it didn't turn out that way. All the European States are still islands in the European sea. Independence is fiercely guarded, and let's face it, many Europeans don't like other Europeans at all.
So, this summer, like all previous summers, we will gather in our home countries. Why sunbath in Italy, when you can be cold and miserable in Sweden, the country of your birth.…
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World Reporter
Ulf Nilson, World reporter since his first assignments to Hungary in 1956. Correspondent and Sweden’s man in America for 20 years, Ulf Nilson is still a regular columnist in Sweden’s daily Expressen, and regular contributor in Nordstjernan. He has authored or co-authored over fifty books. He lives in southern France or at his beloved Värmdö, just 30 minutes north of Stockholm. He
• covered the US, including Vietnam during the war years
• marched in the civil rights marches
• interviewed Martin Luther King
• met presidents Johnson, Nixon, Reagan and George H. W. Bush
• and, as one of Sweden’s most well-known journalists, also met with every politician, industry leader or cultural personality—all the movers and shakers of Sweden through five decades of a proliferate professional life.
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