Some Europeans get it

Some Europeans, in this case a prominent Swede, understand some of the serious threats we (as a planet) face:

John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is one of two Americans who have been nominated for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.

Last year, Democrats and a few Republicans refused to confirm Bolton to the U.N. post, forcing President Bush to resort to a recess appointment.

Bolton and Kenneth R. Timmerman were formally nominated by Sweden's former deputy prime minister Per Ahlmark, for playing a major role in exposing Iran's secret plans to develop nuclear weapons.

Is the U.S. arrogant in its preemptime posturing? I don't think arrogant is the right word. Arrogance is a hollow self-assuredness, hollow because it is compromised by any meaningful level of perceived responsibility. If the U.S. were bouncing around the globe, razing regimes with no moral conviction of responsibility to not only its own citizens, but those of the nation harboring the regime - or the rest of the world - then I would call it arrogance.

Sensitivity is wonderful. As a people, we should be concerned with the perception of our own people and that of others. But we cannot allow perception to dictate our actions when serious threats face us. What is possibly most frustrating to those of us in the U.S. and elsewhere - those of us who SEE credible threats clearly emerging - what is most mind-numbingly frustrating is the reluctance of our news media to give us the benefit of the doubt (we're all Americans, right?) and go after the truth in a fearless manner - no matter where it might lead.

Most people today - no matter where - have a worldview that includes an outcome - and they will fight to the death, it would seem, to maintain that outcome, regardless of silly concerns such as truth.