Europe risks losing its best ally

National Post ^ | May 30 2002 | Conrad Black

[knighthawk]

Ping

[swarthyguy]

wait til Bush asks India to be an observer at NATO. Just kidding!

[keri]

Great article, KH.

[Snuffington]

If the United States concludes that this alliance is useless to it, it will replace it with bilateral arrangements with important powers such as Russia and China, with which countries America's relations are more cordial than they have been for many decades.

In that case, the fleeting gratitude of the Iraqis, Iranians and like-minded states will be a very poor substitute to Europe for the formal friendship of the United States.

Good analysis. But I'm afraid, with the possible exception of Great Britain, the writing is on the wall for this already. And Great Britain is soon going to be forced into a hard choice between the EU and alliance with the U.S. I don't see that this forcing will come at the prompting of the U.S., but rather from the EU side.

[knighthawk]

I can only add that as a European I agree 100% with him.

I can understand why Europeans see Arafat as a great leader, but Bush is a stupid cowboy in their view.

Back in the Reagan days it was the same: Reagan was a bad actor and the Russians were heroes who didn't want to invade all of Europe.

I mean, how blind are the Europeans? When seeing how they never stopped Hitler, I got an answer.

[CatoRenasci]

Bump! The only reason we're still allied with the Europeans is so many Americans like to visit the continent. The Europeans are wet and weak, jealous of our power and eager to bell the American cat, but too afraid to do anything!

[Billthedrill]

Europe has never had any discernible Middle Eastern policy except to await the American position and then take a stance more favourable to the Arabs. This may sometimes be objectively correct policy, but it hasn't contributed much to the Middle Eastern peace process.

Exquisite.

I think, though, that Lord Black is underrepresenting the desire of EU proponents to construct precisely the sort of military and economic parity that he mentioned. And that should give its individual member countries a bit of pause, because

Given the provocation and America's immense military power, I know of no country that has ever acted with more conspicuous moderation and effectiveness.

...because if the EU proponents succeed unconstrained, this power will be in the hands of folks who seem to try to set the world on fire every couple of generations. Or, as Tom Lehrer once reminded us satirically,
"We've got the missiles, peace to determine,
And one of the fingers on the button will be German."

[CatoRenasci]

Well, not all Europeans are anti-American. We didn't win the World Wars all by ourselves, the British bore a great burden in both wars and the French did fight in World War I, even if they turned into cheese eating surrender monkeys in 1940, and were mostly Vichy Nazi booklickers by '42. The Dutch, the Belgians, the Danes and the Norwegians resisted, however unsuccessfully. The Germans had the sense to leave the Swiss alone.

[colorado tanker]

Outstanding piece. I do think, however, that the European governments are much closer to the US postition than the Euro press, especially now that the socialists are out or on their way out in many countries.

[aristeides]

Very interesting that this piece by the publisher Conrad Black should appear just as the annual meeting of the Bilderbergers starts. I have a feeling Black is going to be making the same case at the meeting. I wonder how much agreement he will find.

[knighthawk]

The Germans today really like the US.

And if I tell people I would like to live in the US, they look at me as if I were suicidal!

[untenured]

And if I tell people I would like to live in the US, they look at me as if I were suicidal!

Do these conversations go on long enough for you to learn why?

I once had a student who had moved here from Sweden. He said he liked living in a country where he got to keep a decent fraction of what he earned rather than having it taken form him and given to someone else, and his friends back home just couldn't understand that.

I wonder what it is about the States that most terrifies or appalls the average European of the sort you mention.

[Centurion2000]

I wonder what it is about the States that most terrifies or appalls the average European of the sort you mention

The possibility of abject failures and wild successes above and below mere mediocrity scares many.

[rebelsoldier]

Britain is not what many of us consider "Europe" proper. And thank God for that. I have said it before and I'll say it again, the EU is the modern equivalent realization of Hitler and the Third Reich's dream of a "united Europe" under a "new" world order, not unlike that which typified the former Soviet Empire. Who will run this EU neo-empire? Probably the same national alliances that either cooperated or were a part of the National Socialist confederation of Germany and Austria, with Switzerland doing the banking, France and southern Europe doing the slacking, and third world immigrant trash doing the "labor" while eagerly supporting the bastardization of entire European civilizations they detest anyhow. I suppose National Socialism has finally found a politicaly correct niche from which it can proceed. Even Hitler's open declaration of warfare would be preferable to this slimy, attritional disintergration.

[knighthawk]

They think that all of the US is like the worst part of cities like LA (crime and so on). And the other part is like Texas: there they punish criminals and have guns and self defence. Those things are unheard of in Europe.

Gee, I wonder why people in the Netherlands and France voted en masse for parties promising more safety on the streets.

They also think Americans are superficial and dumb too. When I say how it happens that most important inventions and discoveries are made in the US, they worm their way out of it.

They never met a real American, but still they think the image that the media holds about the people in the US is fully accurate.

[knighthawk]

The anti-jewish attitude is already growing. But there is hope. People in Denmark, the Netherlands and France are waking up.

[maximus@Nashville]

sigh...

As a conservative and a Republican, I should be used to being portrayed in a bad light by the American press. I had not realized that I would also be denigraded as an American by the foreign press.

[Maceman]

We need to get out of NATO while the getting is good.

[untenured]

According to our Immigration and Naturalization Service, about 1,350,000 people legally migrated from Europe between 1991 and 2000, so it's not like there aren't a lot of pro-American types there. (Unless they've all left. :) )

I wonder if the sentiments you describe are more or less pronounced among young people.