Day of Empire_ How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance--And Why They Fall - Amy Chua [161]
Part of what makes Islam so difficult for the EU to tolerate is the resistance to assimilation and the violence endorsed by Islamic extremists. The problem of “tolerating intolerance” is one that all Western nations now face. In Europe's case, however, the problem is compounded by the “ghettoization” of its Muslim communities: the fact that from Scandinavia to Spain, despite starkly different approaches to minorities, Europe's Muslims tend overwhelmingly to live in isolated enclaves, separated physically, culturally, and psychologically from their European compatriots.
These enclaves—typically slumlike, crime-filled, frustration-ridden housing projects on the outskirts of major cities such as Marseilles or Amsterdam—are not only poor vehicles for assimilation into the larger society. They are breeding grounds for militant Islam, as witnessed by the popularity of bin Laden posters in teenage bedrooms in French Muslim apartments and the terrorist cells recently uncovered in Madrid, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Milan, and London.34
Europe's difficulties with its immigrant, and especially Muslim, communities do not seem to be abating. On the contrary, the headlines of violence and unrest have grown more ominous, from the 2004 Madrid train bombings; to the murder of Dutch filmmaker and critic of Islam Theo van Gogh; to the 2005 race riots in France; to the “cartoon jihad” that began in Denmark and quickly spread throughout Europe and the Middle East; to the London Tube bombings that left fifty-two dead; to the foiled 2006 plot by British Pakistani Muslims to detonate liquid explosives on multiple airliners over the Atlantic. Ironically, while Americans presumably remain the primary object of extremist Islamic hatred, the consensus is now that the United States has a done a better job than Europe integrating its Muslim communities, thereby staving off, at least so far, the problem of “homegrown” Islamic terrorism.
The EU's “Muslim problem” profoundly shapes and complicates current European attitudes toward not only immigration but the eventual size and nature of the Union itself. While in theory the enlargement of the EU has no inherent geographical limits, there are important real-world constraints on the EU's expansion. Turkey's accession negotiations have slowed down considerably, with France and Austria insisting that Turkey's “special” circumstances require new procedures—specifically, popular referenda—before accession can be permitted. And certainly the EU has no present plans for trying to incorporate, say, India, with its immense and overwhelmingly poor, non-Christian population.
These practical limits on the EU's expansion, together with the resistance to immigration prevalent in many EU nations, leave Europe in one respect at a significant disadvantage relative to the United States. Despite its phenomenal successes, the EU has not found a way to attract and exploit the most valuable human capital from all over the world. It remains, by comparison to the United States, less open and less appealing to the enterprising, techsavvy young talent from India, Pakistan, Russia, Israel, Taiwan, China, and elsewhere who are looking to leave their home countries and capitalize on their skills.
On the other hand, there are signs on the horizon that the United States cannot take its advantage for granted. For example, perhaps because of 9/11 and the plethora of new European scholarships and free tuition packages, Europe today attracts almost twice as