Mark Steyn: The Yanks are going home

The Spectator (U.K.) ^ | 03/15/03 | Mark Steyn

[Pokey78]

[Clemenza]

The UN’s most recent population report has revised the global fertility rate down from 2.1 — i.e., replacement rate — to 1.85 — i.e., eventual population decline. It will peak in about 2050, and then fall off in a geometric progression. What this means for the Continent is that the fall-back position — use the Third World as your nursery — is also dead. The developing world’s fertility rate is 2.9 and falling.

Worth repeating. The fall in the developing world's birthrate is particularly noticeable in Latin America.

[July 4th]

I quite like Stockholm, too. Well, I like the babes, but they’re gonna be a lot wrinklier by 2050.

Australia will never be as powerful as America, but it doesn’t, as Mr Lipponen does, trumpet its arthritic defects as a virtue and demand that these should be accepted as the new global norm.

There are always some real gems in every Steyn article.

[joesnuffy]

‘the EU must not develop into a military superpower but must become a great power that will not take up arms at any occasion in order to defend its own interests.’

An empire built on a foundation of LIES - no doubt who "The Father" of this nation is... They also have no problem "selling" these same arms to rogue terror sponsering nations..

[ken5050]

What Steyn doesn't add is that all the third world crazies WILL chose to go to Europe, because they're subzidized by the welfare state.....also, the themes in his article really explain why the "new Europe", i.e. the former Soviet colonies, are so pro-American, it's because they instinctively know that they will need the US to defend them against FRanco-German pressure..both economic and military....

[facedown]

Thanks bump.

[MeekOneGOP]

[Ditto]

Great read bump.

[aruanan]

‘The day is coming,’ predicted another prime minister, Sir Charles Tupper, ‘when Canada, which has become the right arm of the British empire, will dominate the American continent.’

Imagine this proclaimed in the voice of Benjie or Frankie Mouse.

[xJones]

Thanks for the ping, but there are so many good quotes in this article that I'll just bump it.

[Eva]

You should also read the article by Oriana Fallaci on Opinion Journal along the same lines, but much more moving.

[headsonpikes]

"Why would anyone think a disinclination to breed or to defend oneself is a recipe for success?"

He's not only funny, but he asks all the right Menckenesque questions.

[MeekOneGOP]

Good grief ! >>>

Step forward, Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen, who said in London last year that ‘the EU must not develop into a military superpower but must become a great power that will not take up arms at any occasion in order to defend its own interests.’

No doubt it sounds better in Finnish.

...or in French !

[RippleFire]

BUMP

[Drawsing]

Step forward, Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen, who said in London last year that ‘the EU must not develop into a military superpower but must become a great power that will not take up arms at any occasion in order to defend its own interests.’

Again the denial of the existence of evil. Despite what moral relativists say, human beings are not "inherently good" and thus we have checks, balances, and a big stick.

[mountaineer]

‘the EU must not develop into a military superpower but must become a great power that will not take up arms at any occasion in order to defend its own interests.’

In other words, they are 1940-era France, all too willing to roll over (or bend over, pick your analogy) for whatever oppressive, freedom-denying regime comes along.

[ez]

What we’ve seen in the last few weeks is that for Europeans the real clash of civilisations is not between Islam and the West but between what the French call ‘Anglo-Saxon’ capitalism and Eurostatism.

This clash is not only manifesting itself in Europe, but also in the United States Legislature. It is essentially Judeo-Christianity v. Atheism at it's core. Morality v. Humanism.

[RedWhiteBlue]

Bump!

[SkyPilot]

I continue to be amazed by this man's prose, wit, and insight.