...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
alliance, as well as Japan and South Korea. In Europe, La Belle France and Germany were the only large-scale countries that sat the war out, with 12 of the 25 members of the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
represented. The coalition, swelled to roughly 40 countries, and was one of the largest military coalitions ever assembled.
As it stands, President B.O.'s proposed military coalition on Syria has a grand total of two members -- the US and La Belle France. And the French, as we know from Iraq, simply can't be relied on, and have very limited military capability. It is a truly embarrassing state of affairs when Gay Paree, at best a fair weather friend, is your only partner. John F.
I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a
lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
tried to put a brave face on it at his presser today, by referring to La Belle France "as our oldest ally," but the fact remains that his administration is looking painfully isolated.
There can be no doubt that
David Cameron... has stated that he is
certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite,which means he's not. Since he is
not deeply ideologicalhe lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as
certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger,but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
's defeat in the House of Commons was a huge blow to President B.O., and has dominated the US news networks this morning. The absence of Britannia in any American-led military action significantly weakens Obama's position on the world stage, and dramatically undercuts the B.O. regime. The vote reflected not only a lack of confidence in the Commons in the prime minister's Syria strategy, it also demonstrated a striking lack of confidence in Barack Obama
They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them...
and US leadership.
In marked contrast to Obama, President Bush invested a great deal of time and effort in cultivating ties with key US allies, especially Britannia. The Special Relationship actually mattered to George W. Bush. For Barack Obama it has been a mere blip on his teleprompter. Bush also went out of his way to build ties with other allies in Europe, including with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, and an array of countries in Eastern and Central Europe. Obama simply hasn't bothered making friends in Europe, and has treated some nations with sheer disdain and disrespect, including Poland and the Czech Republic. He has found common currency with La Belle France's Socialist President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist...
, an ideological soul-mate, but finds himself in a very lonely position elsewhere across the Atlantic.