To all my European friends -- from
The Nobel Committee recently awarded its prestigious top prize to 500 million people who have, for the last 65 years, made a conscious decision to live together in peace and harmony: the
Who could possibly be more deserving of a peace prize? When your grandparents were kids,
In my 2009 book "Travel as a Political Act," I wrote:
For the EU's founders, money took a backseat to their primary motivation: peace. Even the biggest Euroskeptic recognizes that, in weaving together the economies of former enemies like
When boots do hit the ground in a war, Europeans believe it's because they have failed to prevent it. They prefer endless diplomacy to once-in-a-while war.
In 1947, in the rubble of a bombed-out
Yes,
Naysayers continue to predict the imminent collapse of
I'm sure many stateside critics will scoff at this prize. They'll say that the Europeans are rewarding themselves for their "failing" system. (This misses the fact that the Norwegians who awarded the prize are not, themselves, EU citizens.) These critics, blinded by their own agenda, are missing the historical long view, which tells an astonishing success story. Sixty-seven years ago,
The union and its forerunners have for more than six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in
Again,
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(c) 2012 Tribune Media Services