In the column's text he stated: "But the extremists are coming back. Those who have read their history cannot avoid the recall of the [German] Weimar Republic circa 1930. At the core of it all is the despair. Communists and fascists love despair which is now the eurozone's only growth industry. But in Brussels and Berlin the dance goes on, the waltz of the blind . . . In my view the [European] dream is crashing and will not now be saved."

Max Hastings adds his voice in the Daily Mail: "The economic stresses afflicting southern Europe may give way to social upheavals of which past Greek riots are a mere taster" ("Europe's on the Brink of Probably the Gravest and Most Frightening Tumult of Our Lifetime," June 19, 2012).

This seems to be an increasingly held opinion. Consider an editorial in The Wall Street Journal with this opening sentence: "Nationalism—even extreme nationalism—is on the rise again in Europe" ("A Womb That's Fertile Still," June 25, 2012).

The drophead stating, "Extremists gain political strength as centrist parties fumble the crisis," the article goes on to point out, "What unites and motivates all of these [right-wing] parties is the conviction that the interests of the European Union increasingly run counter to the interests of its member states . . ." (Sources: Daily Express, Daily Mail, The Wall Street Journal.)