Posted on 10/26/2007 2:36:44 PM PDT by knighthawk
This is a bad time for anyone who still clings to the belief that Europe will one day wake up to the potentially catastrophic consequences it faces from attack by a variety of foes – whether rogue states with nuclear weapons or Islamic extremists with dirty bombs.
The first hammer blow to the continent's belated attempts to develop a credible defence policy came with the election win last weekend of Donald Tusk's Civic Platform in the Polish general election.
The size of Mr Tusk's victory owed much to the widespread unpopularity of the Kaczynski twins – opinion polls showed that 80 per cent of Poles were "ashamed" of their government.
But one unexpected consequence of the pro-business Civic Platform's success is that the new government is likely to withdraw its permission for Washington to site its controversial missile defence shield on Polish soil.
Mr Tusk believes that withdrawing cooperation from the American project will enable Warsaw to build better relations with its two powerful neighbours, Germany and Russia, which had suffered a dramatic decline under the fiercely nationalistic policies pursued by the Kaczynski twins.
Similarly, Mr Tusk believes that withdrawing the small Polish military detachment from Iraq will help to normalise Poland's relations with the rest of Europe.
But by seeking to develop better relations with its neighbours, the Poles risk seriously damaging the transatlantic alliance which, despite the decade-long campaign by the European Union to develop a common defence and security policy, remains the bedrock of Europe's defence.
For the anti-missile missile system that Washington wants to establish in eastern Europe is designed as much to protect continental Europe from attack by rogue states, such as Iran, as it is to defend American interests.
Nor can there be any doubt that Iran and its allies pose a tangible, and mounting, threat to Europe's security. Last month, it was reported that dozens of Syrian and Iranian missile technicians were killed in an abortive attempt to weaponise a Russian-made Scud C ballistic missile with a chemical warhead.
The accident happened in July at a secret military base in Syria, and the blast led to traces of lethal chemical agents, including sarin nerve gas, contaminating the military base where the test was being conducted.
It has since emerged that three North Korean missile experts were also killed in the blast, yet further proof that North Korea, Syria and Iran are actively cooperating to establish a new "axis of evil".
The main driving force behind this recently constituted alliance is undoubtedly Iran, which is desperate to develop and improve its existing weapons of mass destruction capability.
Iran's Shahab-3 missile system, for example, which is a derivative of the Russian Scud, has a range of 800-miles, and if the Iranians, with the help of their Syrian and North Korean allies, were able to master the technology to adapt the missiles to carry chemical or biological warheads, Teheran would have the ability to threaten Western targets with its armoury.
Unlike the claims made over Iraq's bogus WMD under Saddam Hussein, not even the most pacifist-minded European government, irrespective of what they might think about Iran's nuclear intentions, is in any doubt that Iran has active chemical weapons stockpiles and is seeking the missile systems to deliver them.
The new round of sanctions imposed on Teheran by Washington yesterday was aimed precisely at curbing these activities, and explains why the US government has designated the Quds Force, the elite intelligence unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, as "a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction".
But there is no guarantee that sanctions alone will be sufficient to prevent the Iranians from developing a system that threatens the West's security, which is why Washington is determined to press ahead with its defence scheme, irrespective of Polish cooperation.
The same goes for Afghanistan where, despite the continuing refusal of many Nato member states to allow their forces to participate in combat operations, Washington is adamant that no ground should be given in the battle to defeat the Taliban.
So far as the Bush administration is concerned, the Taliban is synonymous with al-Qa'eda, and its attempts to rebuild its powerbase in southern Afghanistan, where the September 11 attacks were first conceived, arguably poses more of a threat to European security than it does to American.
Nearly all of the recent Islamic terror plots uncovered in Germany, France and Britain have originated from the lawless tribal areas on the Afghan-Pakistan border, and the fact that Nato commanders have recently discovered that the Taliban is receiving military assistance from Iran in the form of sophisticated roadside bombs only serves to illustrate the extent of the threat the Western alliance – or what is left of it – faces.
But with the majority of European states unwilling to support even the most basic defensive measures, such as protecting themselves from missile attack or defeating groups with a proven track record of launching terror attacks against the West, the prospects of victory grow slimmer by the day.
Small wonder that Air Chief Marshall Sir Jock Stirrup, the head of Britain's armed forces, yesterday warned that there was no military solution to the war currently being waged in Afghanistan.
Indeed, Europe's confused and divided approach to waging the war on terror is partly to blame for the deepening crisis in northern Iraq, where the Turkish army has ignored European calls for restraint and launched a series of cross-border raids aimed at rooting out PKK terror cells.
By any test, Turkey should be a natural ally of the West in its battle against Islamic extremism. A key Nato ally, Turkey's secular political establishment has robustly resisted the encroachment of Islam on the country's institutions and social conduct, and has taken decisive action against the Islamic terror groups responsible for carrying out atrocities such as the 2003 bombing of the British consulate in Istanbul.
But the European Union's ham-fisted treatment of Turkey's application to full EU membership has left Ankara disinclined to give serious consideration to European entreaties to show restraint in Iraq, even if this week's Turkish incursions run the risk of inflicting further damage on Baghdad's already fragile political infrastructure.
In fact, the Europeans could a learn a thing or two from the Turks about combating terrorism. The Turks' tactics might not be subtle, but they are effective. When threatened by acts of terrorism, the Turks's visceral response is to seek out and destroy the perpetrators.
Rather than expecting the Turks to behave more like Europeans, perhaps the Europeans should learn to behave more like the Turks.
Ping
Gee, the very two countries that have been so good to Poland in the past.
I don’t think that Europe is as much in danger from terrorism as it is in danger of a gradual Islamist takeover by the gaining of a political plurality and imposition of Sharia law. The same applies to the United States if we don’t wake up and stand up to the Muslims. I am of the age that it will not effect me, but unlike most others I talk to, I care very much about those who come after me.
A quick scan of the headline and I thought the thread was about Donald Duck. Well, maybe I’m not so far off...
Is that his name?
I was dubious when this was first announced. The Kaczynski twins have unashamedly and unfashionably stood up for western civilization and the Christian heritage of Europe. Tusk may be pro-business, but if he takes this position on Iraq and the Soviet Union, er, I mean Russia, it will represent the fall of one of the West’s few remaining friends in European politics.
Certainly this is the opposite of the Sarkozy victory.
I really don’t know enough about the winners from the recent polish elections to comment on that aspect of the article but..allowing Turkey into the EU is just plain wrong, this would give the Turks free access to Europe ie: travel, work, immigration and 90% of that population is Muslim. If Europe thought it had problems with too many Muslims now just wait till such a thing happened. Not to mention that Turkey is NOT part of Europe.
Tusk would have to be completely fucked up to agree on this crap.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-10/23/content_6931355.htm
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