This article presents a story of how an American teacher in Berlin tried to reach out to her Muslim high school students. She relates how her students were always gracious to her but when they found out she was an American, they tend to avoid talking to her. She explains that the reputation the United States has earned over the past three years…

In a famous comment in January 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld referred to a difference between Old Europe and New Europe. By "Old Europe," he meant mainly the traditional European leaders, France and Germany, which adopted a stance critical of U.S. policy on Iraq. He saw the "New Europe" as consisting of former Iron…