The Christian Science Monitor looks at the “complex” views of Europeans under age 30 about the US in light of their loathing of President Bush and the Iraq war.

Right. Complex enough to acknowledge American ingenuity and “coolness” (in addition to faults like “arrogance”).

Not especially encouraging, for example, that Arno Borgers, a graduate student at Humboldt University in Berlin, “discusses the Simpsons TV show like a screenwriter. He questions American military hard power, but is smitten by American soft power, with subcultures like hip-hop.”

Impressive.

And not encouraging to hear from Bruno, a French graduate student listening to “extreme metallica” in the Luxembourg Gardens, who feels that nations “the US, which impose their culture on others, are more difficult to respect,” says. Yet, he adds, US youth “have a desire for renewal … and this diversity is something I like.” Here’s to you, Bruno, for your mastery of US pop culture and multiculti boilerplate!

“There is sheer exhaustion about war news,” says CSM, “a certain passion among students not to hold absolute views on anything, and a cynicism about politics in Europe” – hardly attitudes geared to standing tall when the going gets tough.