| Submit your comments on this article |
| Europe |
| Steyn on US troop pullouts from Europe |
| 2004-08-17 |
| A little more than half the original article... In the largest military realignment in years, Washington plans to withdraw 70,000 troops plus 100,000 family members and support personnel from overseas US bases. That means, for the most part, from Europe. This will undoubtedly be welcome news to the likes of Goran Persson, the Swedish prime minister, who famously declared that the purpose of the European Union is that "it's one of the few institutions we can develop as a balance to US world domination". It must surely be awfully embarrassing to be the first superpower in history to be permanently garrisoned by your principal rival superpower. But it's also grand news for those of us who've long argued that America's six-decade security guarantee to Europe has been a massive strategic error. The basic flaw in the Atlantic "alliance" is that, for almost all its participants, the free world is a free lunch: a defence pact of wealthy nations in which only one guy picks up the tab. I said as much in a Canadian column I wrote on 9/11, and a few weeks later the dominion's deputy prime minister, John Manley, conceded that his country was dining in the best restaurants without paying its way: as he put it, "You can't just sit at the G8 table and then, when the bill comes, go to the washroom." But in Nato, for generations, whenever the bill's come, there's been a stampede to the washroom, not just from the Canadians but the Continentals, too. Like any other form of welfare, defence welfare is a hard habit to break and profoundly damaging to the recipient. The peculiarly obnoxious character of modern Europe is a logical consequence of Washington's willingness to absolve it of responsibility for its own security. Our Defence Editor, John Keegan, once wrote that "without armed forces a state does not exist". That's true in a certain sense. But, in another, for wealthy nations who've found a sugar daddy, it's marvellously liberating. You're able to preen and pose on the world stage secure in the knowledge that nobody expects you to do anything about it. |
| Posted by:Bulldog |
| #14 The external attack is not going to come from any country excepting perhaps Iran. The Terrorists are living in their societys. I can't support helping them. If taking out Saddam is wrong then defending them against islamic terror must be wrong likewise. |
| Posted by: Flamebait93268 2004-08-17 10:46:19 PM |
| #13 I noticed the team from liberated Afghanistan drew far more enthusiastic cheers from the Athens crowd than the team of the country that actually liberated them... At the time of the Afghan liberation, a poll found only 5.2 per cent of Greeks supported the war. Three cheers for irony. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2004-08-17 10:37:41 PM |
| #12 Bottom line. . . Troops remaining in Continental Europe are going to Poland, and Hungary, where they are appreciated. Drop the Bratwurst, bring on the Kelbasa! Drop the Rhinewine, bring on the Tokay! |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-08-17 3:55:15 PM |
| #11 Is France willing to risk the nuking of Paris by an Islamic state to defend That I believe is the true question. |
| Posted by: Dreadnought 2004-08-17 12:15:57 PM |
| #10 The Russians are having great difficulty overwhelming a ragtag bunch of rebels in Chechnya using rules of engagement that permit leveling civilian infrastructure at will - I doubt they'll have any appetite for overseas adventures A couple of observations. Right now Russia is dancing with the devil, Iran, helping them with their nuke facilities while ignoring Iran is most likely one of the routes of jihadniki in and out of Chechnya. It's a sad game of whack a mole that Putin must play for Russia's economic survival, and it may well cost the world a nuclear exchange with Iran. Russia has been traditionally a defense oriented nation, from time immemorial. Their military culture has shined when they have defended the land from invasion. Russians, for lack of a better word, suck at aggression. At the moment Putin is failing to recognize the west, including Russia is undergoing an invasion by Islamists. Bush partially got the message 911, but it may take another massive attack to pull together the resouces of the west to deal with the sole true remaining terrorist state, Iran. |
| Posted by: badanov 2004-08-17 11:50:21 AM |
| #9 Toga party first Mr G.! |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-08-17 11:40:42 AM |
| #8 "FREE TIBET! with equal or larger purchase™" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-08-17 11:28:50 AM |
| #7 As Stephens points out, European countries now have attitudes in inverse proportion to the likelihood of their acting upon them. They're like my hippy-dippy Vermont neighbours who drive around with "Free Tibet" bumper stickers snicker. |
| Posted by: B 2004-08-17 11:26:12 AM |
| #6 FB: I personally will not support any defense of Germany or France if they are attacked by an external force of any type until they admit they are and were wrong about Iraq. No country is in a position to launch an invasion on Western Europe. The Russians are having great difficulty overwhelming a ragtag bunch of rebels in Chechnya using rules of engagement that permit leveling civilian infrastructure at will - I doubt they'll have any appetite for overseas adventures. Threats and attacks with nuclear-armed ballistic missiles are another matter. Is France willing to risk the nuking of Paris by an Islamic state to defend Berlin? That is the question. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-08-17 10:00:52 AM |
| #5 and nice dig on Barbra too! Another Steyn classic... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-08-17 10:00:34 AM |
| #4 Actually, FB, your original sentence made perfect sense: They were wrong THEN, and they still are wrong NOW. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2004-08-17 9:24:42 AM |
| #3 "Semi-Belgian"? That's a new ethnic classification. What, is he a truck whose parents emigrated to Brussels? |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2004-08-17 8:26:22 AM |
| #2 That should read ...they were wrong and we were right... I should know better than try and type this late at night. |
| Posted by: Flamebait93268 2004-08-17 7:39:07 AM |
| #1 Europe had better pay attention to why the gentleman is saying, for it's own sake. I personally will not support any defense of Germany or France if they are attacked by an external force of any type until they admit they are and were wrong about Iraq. I am glad we are removing 170,000 bodies from Germany. 10 years is to long. For me it is over, over there |
| Posted by: Flamebait93268 2004-08-17 6:04:53 AM |