A bunch of bloggers I read occasionally (often linked from Instapundit) share the feeling that Europeans, particularly on the left, don't understand the new world order since 9/11. This blog entry in particular says that Europe will only understand that there is already a war, when an attack targets their soil.

But what if that educational moment doesn't come in the next, say, 10 years? I may be optimistic, but I believe there's a significant possibility, verging on probability, that moment will not come in the next 10 years. Minor attacks probably, but not an attack with the level of surprise and emotional intensity as 9/11, from the same or similar sources, targetting European soil. There may not be one targetting US soil either. So are we at war? Are the Europeans? It depends on your definition of war, and Europeans define it differently.