Roger Cohen: The Spirit That Binds

Roger Cohen is a columnist for the NYT.

VENICE — The United States is no longer interested in Europe per se. That’s not a bad thing. It reflects the fact that Europe is whole, free and at peace....

The lesson of Venice is that history moves on. Great decisions affecting far-flung lands were once taken where the idle now gaze at roseate facades and wander over stones smoothed by centuries. After the doges came the dolce vita. After statecraft came style, Flaubert’s “discharge from a deeper wound.”...

The Arab Spring reminds us of what does still bind the United States and Europe: values of human dignity and freedom. The trans-Atlantic relationship is an empty vessel if not used when the yearning of less fortunate peoples touches on what binds us most intimately....