Europe has certainly lost confidence in itself. This was something that, when I was a young man, we never imagined would happen.

The euro is a great achievement. It's a symbolic achievement. But, the European constitution was a missed opportunity.

Islamic terrorists are new examples of an old problem with fascism.

You can be horrified by the state of the prisons, the misery in certain neighborhoods of its cities, or their level of poverty. Anti-Americanism, by which I mean a hatred for America as such-its transformation into a metaphysical category, which incarnates all the evil in the world-is one of fascism's favorite themes. Look at writer and political theorist Charles Maurras in France. The philosopher Martin Heidegger in Germany. The radical Islamists of today!

The only successful revolution of this century is totalitarianism.

I am 60, and I am as much an internationalist as when I was younger, when I was a Marxist-Leninist. Internationalism is one of the rare pieces of that heritage to which I remain loyal. That is Barack Obama's strength. A politician has finally understood that politics is not only about the closing of a mine in Ohio-it is also about the will to reach out, to embrace the world of today's young Americans. That way, young Americans may eventually reconcile with politics.

Europe needs to develop a sense of collective history - we need to write books from a European perspective, to teach it in schools as well.