Europe vs. America’s Operating System

"Europeans and Americans talk trade or antitrust when the real issue is the legitimacy of American power," writes Grant Mainland, a research specialist at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. In this commentary, Mainland compares Microsoft's monopoly position in software to the US monopoly on global military power. Just fined US$613 million under European antitrust legislation, Mainland contends that Microsoft will likely pay its debts, but only so that it can continue its aggressive marketing tactics. To Europeans, he says, this sort of behavior resembles how "America buys off its allies and opponents alike and then charges forward ruthlessly with its own agenda." Mainland concludes that while the US military monopoly is unlikely to end anytime soon, the Eueopeans may at least be able to forge a multi-polar global economy. - YaleGlobal