Europe's Biggest Problem Is Its Success.

To Be In Florence Is To Reflect On Europe's Intricate Diversity - And Its Lost Creativity.

What Is The Elephant In All Our Rooms? It Is The Global Triumph Of Capitalism. Democracy Is Fiercely Disputed. Freedom Is Under Threat Even In Old-established Democracies Such As Britain. Western Supremacy Is On The Skids. But Everyone Does Capitalism. Americans And Europeans Do It. Indians Do It. Russian Oligarchs And Saudi Princes Do It. Even Chinese Communists Do It... Karl Marx Would Be Turning In His Grave. Or Perhaps Not, Since Some Of His Writings Eerily Foreshadowed Our Era Of Globalised Capitalism. His Prescription Failed But His Description Was Prescient.

America Is Divided By A Great Argument About Itself. Europe Is Divided By A Great Argument About America.

I Have Also Been Saddened, Though Hardly Surprised, By The Weakness Of The Eu's Reaction To The Criminal Attack On The Danish Embassy In Syria, Which Seems To Have Been Permitted, If Not Actively Encouraged, By The Syrian Regime.

Ordinary Americans, And Especially The Small Minority Active In Democrat And Republican Primaries, Must Learn More Of What People Across The Globe Are Thinking And Saying About The Us. For If You Follow That, You Realise That The Erosion Of American Power Is Happening Faster Than Most Of Us Predicted -- While The Politicians In Washington Behave Like Rutting Stags With Locked Antlers.