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Will France invoke NATO's Article 5 to declare war on Islamic State?
[JP] To confront comprehensively the Islamic State terrorist attacks on French soil, there have been calls for France's President Francois Hollande to invoke Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, which ensures mutual defense for its members, but neither Hollande nor the military alliance has activated the provision.

The lack of a declaration of war from Hollande and NATO is a window into the courtyard of the EU's gingerly foreign policy posture.

In short, it can be argued the EU failed to internalize the oft-quoted comment from the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky: "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you."

Rewind to 2001. After a group of al-Qaida terrorists smashed planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 Americans, NATO triggered Article 5 to announce military support for the US in the event the US chose to wage war against the terrorists.

Article 5 states that "an armed attack'' against European and North American members, as well as Turkey, "shall be considered an attack against them all.'' As a result, NATO members are obligated to impose military force on a NATO adversary.

Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio is ahead of the Europeans, saying Sunday: "We should invoke Article 5."

However, the French-born Israeli political scientist Dr. Emmanuel Navon told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that Hollande has a "stronger case for article 5" because NATO members UK and US are already fighting Islamic State.
Posted by: Besoeker 2015-11-16
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=435775