March 29, 2008
NATO and the EU at a Crossroads
I've been in the middle of an online discussion with a younger Spanish friend in which I backhanded his suggestion that America should care (and defer ) more to what he called our "European allies". I suggested , perhaps impolitely, that when Europe undertook a greater role in its own defense I might consider giving it any respect or consideration at all--but at the moment I cared little for European opinion.
Interestingly, the Guardian's Martin Kettle makes much of the same point today in discussing the present defense challenges facing the EU and NATO:
For years now, Nato nations have been committed to reach a minimum defence spending target of 2% of GDP. Yet 20 of them, including Canada, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, have fallen far short. Among the six that have reached the target, the shares of four (including Britain and France) are in decline. Inevitably, that means the US carries ever more of the load and becomes ever more sceptical about taking Europe seriously.For years also, European nations have talked about the importance of avoiding duplication in equipment and weapons. But the talk has largely remained just that. It is barmy that Europeans have four different models of tank, compared with America's one; 16 different types of armoured vehicles as against America's three; or 11 types of frigate to America's one. Once again, Europe's failure highlights the US predominance.The experience of Iraq, coupled with Europe's increased role in the Balkans, has tempted some Eurocentrics to say that Nato is outmoded and that an enhanced military role for the EU should replace it. This is fantasy land. If there is one thing that would be even worse for Europe than fighting a war with the Americans as allies, it is fighting a war without them. While it is true that Europe spends too little on defence because it knows it can rely on the Americans, it does not follow that European nations would be keen to spend more if Nato broke down.Nato - as Talleyrand said of Russia - is always too strong and too weak at the same time. Right now, it is also a solution in search of a problem. The immediate priority in Bucharest has to be to turn things round in Afghanistan. The alternative, as Sarkozy said, is not acceptable. But the long-term need is for Europe to take greater responsibility for our own security needs within Nato. That won't be done overnight. But nor will it be done unless we address it much more openly and honestly than we have in the past.
To comment on this or any other American Thinker article or blog, you must be a subscriber to our ad-free service. Login to your subscription to access the comments section. You can subscribe on a monthly basis for $6.79 a month or for a year at $69.99
Login
Subscribe / Change PwdAd Free / Commenting Login
FOLLOW US ON
Recent Articles
- A Taste of the Swamp
- Do We Have 677 Unelected Presidents?
- Global Relations beyond the Prime Directive
- The Democrat Party: The Enemy Within?
- Tariffs and the Moral High Ground
- ‘Mahmoud Khalil, Who Are You?’
- The Slush Fund Nobody Voted For
- Hacktivism and the Possibility of WW III
- Illegals Working for Congress?
- Should FBI Agents Learn Martial Arts?
Blog Posts
- The Shakespeare National Trust determines that Shakespeare is ‘not to be’
- Carville tells Democrats to quit making asses of themselves
- About that Texas congressman who called the transgender member of Congress 'Mister' ...
- A federal district court judge erases Trump’s ability to rid the country of enemy aliens
- In the UK, rape gangs are OK, pictures of women sans hijabs not so much
- Bacha Bazi still being practiced in Afghanistan; young boys sexually abused
- UN judge convicted of forcing a woman into indentured servitude
- What are capital gains, really?
- Trump begins restoring law and order
- Purge the poison: End Middle East Studies
- The Godfather: 53 and getting better all the time
- Why aren't Johnny and Suzie reading?
- ActBlue smurfs its way to oblivion
- Hunter Biden hotfoots it to a luxury vacation in South Africa, seemingly to avoid a deposition on his claimed poverty
- The Obamas' podcast bombs