Posted on 03/22/2004 3:59:21 AM PST by johnny7
After the elections in Spain, there are an increasing number of voices in Europe that are likely to weaken the war against terror. Europe refuses to believe that the free world is threatened.
The rise of the Spanish Socialist Party, led by Jose Luis Zapatero, who quickly announced his intention to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq, strengthens the French-German alliance on the war in Iraq, which had seemed isolated. This is a critical blow to the coalition that was established before the war and which included Spain, Italy, Denmark, Poland and many of the countries that will be joining the European Union in May 2004. Those countries supported the positions of the United States and Great Britain. Some even sent forces for combat and polices mission in Iraq. Developments in Spain gave new life to French President Jacques Chirac’s dream of returning France to its leadership position as the force that drives the European Union, paving the way for the establishment of a multi-power world order in which the EU’s status equals that of the United States. Chirac hurriedly invited the Spanish victor to visit and called for a special meeting of European Foreign Ministers on a topic that could be problematic for Israel: “The struggle against terrorism, dealing with the sources of the Arab-Islamic world’s frustrations and giving priority to the solution of regional problems, especially the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”. This is another step towards neutralizing the alliance that includes Blair, Berlusconi and Aznar, whose party was defeated in Spain.
Blair, using sophistication and a significant ability to maneuver, managed to slip into the French-German alliance by having Britain join the Europe deterrence force and European initiatives to resolve the Israeli conflict. However, Berlusconi remains seriously isolated because of domestic economic problems and public opinion that opposes leaving Italian soldiers in Iraq, which will increase when the Spanish soldiers withdraw. The Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller suffers from similar problems: economic woes and growing opposition to having Polish soldiers stationed in Iraq, especially since Poland was not awarded a single contract for participating in the rehabilitation of Iraq. Therefore, developments in Spain have done serious harm to the US-led coalition. From the perspective of the European public, the unstable situation in Iraq and continuing attacks on coalition forces in Iraq give legitimacy to Chirac and Schroeder’s views before the war and strengthens their position.
Spain’s new leader called the war in Iraq a “catastrophe” and the President of the European Union, Romano Prodi claimed”the war increased terror instead of destroying it”. French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin expanded on this theme when he said, “the war in Iraq was a mistake, a terrible error and the Spanish people have chosen the truth”. Despite this, all European countries, including France, live in the shadow of threats from Islamic terrorism. Despite their talk about the need to fight terrorism, the question remains. Has Europe internalized the lessons about the danger that the free, enlightened world faces from extreme Islamic terrorism or are economic interests and narrow domestic needs preventing pan-European organization and possibly giving indirect encouragement to terrorists attacking the freedom and democracy of the free world? In this context, we should note that some analysts are already saying that the hasty departure of one or more of the coalition forces from Iraq, under cover of clever slogans, and connecting the war against terrorism with “examining the sources of the Arab-Islamic world’s frustrations” have an appeasing effect (in the negative, pre-World War II sense) and represent the enlightened world’s denial of the threat it faces from the fundamentalist, non-compromising Islamic terrorism.
The writer is a former Israeli Ambassador to France.
You can call appeasement anything you want pal but it's still gonna be appeasement when you step in it.
It's actually worse than pre-WW2 appeasement. Chirac wants France to lead the EU with an agenda not beholding to US national interests or security. In another words, a counter to sole American superpower status. Only Blairs tenuous bond with America prevents this debacle from happening.
"If you rub it in both at home and abroad that you are ready for instant war... and intend to be first in and hit your enemy in the belly and kick him when he is down and boil your prisoners in oil (if you take any)... and torture his women and children, then people will keep clear of you."
Vice Admiral Sir John Fisher, Royal Navy, 1898.
England needs you again, Jacky Fisher.
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