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1 Politics

In January 2003 the term "Old Europe" surfaced mockingly with U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to refer to those European countries who were not in favour of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Rumsfeld answered to a comment, that more than 70% of the people in Europe were not in favour of the war in Iraq:

"You're thinking of Europe as Germany and France. I don't. I think that's old Europe."

Rumsfeld's "Old Europe" is probably equivalent to the European Union, with the exception of the United Kingdom, Spain (where the government supported the U.S. in defiance of its people, which was later voted out and the new government pulled out its troops), Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Portugal and the newly joined Central European states.

The German translation altes Europa was the word of the year 2003 in Germany, because the Germans use it in a sarcastic way. The word went largely unnoticed in the English-language press.

In contrast to Rumsfeld's usage of "Old Europe", the term New Europe also appeared, another one that reveals the point-of-view of the speaker.

The phrase can be seen in the light of a divide and conquer policy practiced by the American government, where countries that support them receive benefits such as aid and trade preferences.

1.1 Antecedent uses

The Communist Manifesto of Karl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx ( May 5, 1818 March 14, 1883) was an influential German economist, philosopher, social and political theorist. Although Marx addressed many issues in his career as a journalist and philosopher, he is most famous for his analysis of hist starts with the words:

A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: PopeThis article is about the Catholic pope. See Pope (disambiguation) for other meanings of the word pope. The Pope is the Catholic bishop and patriarch of Rome, and ex officio supreme spiritual leader of what might be called the Catholic Communion (that is, and TsarTsar ( Bulgarian Russian often spelt Czar or Tzar in English), was the title used for the rulers of the First and Second Bulgarian Empires from 913 and in Russia from 1547 to 1917. It is derived from the Latin title Caesar. History of usage The title tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies.

When Marx used the term in 18481848 is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). Events Sri Lanka The Revolution of 1848 (qv. a series of widespread but failed struggles for more liberal governments, from Brazil to Hungary. January 24 California gold rush: Jame, the year of failed liberal revolutions across Europe, he was referring to the restoration of Ancien régime dynasties, following the defeat of Napoleon. Of his three sets of pairs, each pair links figures who might on the surface be considered adversaries, in alliances that he clearly sees as unholy, to set up one of history's most effective conspiracy theories. An "Old Europe" must find a mental contrast with a posited "New Europe".