re: The claim of patriotism
If countries want to build something together, instead of waging war against each other, the last thing they can do is to pretend they're the greatest, the best country in the world (especially if its history has been tainted by atrocities) because that kind of message is understood by the other countries as "and you're not as good".
That's why patriotism is the shadow of what it used to be, here.
