Velvet Hammer

Today is the 15th anniversary of the beginning of Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution. To mark the occasion, former president Vaclav Havel penned a Miami Herald op-ed (annoying registration required) that, among other things, defends the "moral dimension" of politics, warns about economic globalization and government bureaucratization and "mass conformism," calls for overhauling the United Nations, and ends with this to-do list for his fellow Europeans:

Therefore, unifying Europe should set an example for the rest of the world regarding how to face the various dangers and horrors that are engulfing us today.

Indeed, such a task, which is closely tied to the success of European integration, would be an authentic fulfillment of the European sense of global responsibility. And it would be a much-better strategy than cheaply blaming America for the contemporary world's various problems.