A few years ago, a column signed by US expert Robert Kagan (later developed into a book) compared Europe to Venus and the US with Mars, sparking fierce debate on both sides of the Atlantic. The reputed politologist no more, no less than cast a doubt over the capacity of Europe - whose impressive soft power served it in the past to deal with the most diverse challenges - to face the threats of the 21st Century without decisively resorting to hard power. But the newspaper story outreached far beyond this, as it appeared in the wake of the Iraq invasion by the forces of the international coalition organized by the US. The idea was that America will be unable to deal with the threats of the 21st Century on its own, so Europe should change its behaviour philosophy in the international arena, as global security threats will be so serious and on such a huge and unforeseeable scale that hard power will be the only alternative. At that time, the column was also understood as a sign of the...