Tuesday, April 29, 2003

The most meaningless meeting in the world

Anti-war Europeans open summit to discuss strengthening military links. Attending the meeting were representatives from France, Germany, Belgium and Luxemburg.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin on Monday called for a strong Europe which could speak with a single voice and act as a counterweight to the United States.
Evidently he has forgotten what happened last time these four nations were under a unified military leader who was acting as a counterweight to the USA. In the last months it has become increasingly clear that many in Europe have forgotten the basic lessons of history. A primary historical lesson is that a unified Germany with any military power is never a good idea (see WWI & WWII).

I am actually not very worried about this planned 'counterweight' posed by Europe. Examining the nations that are participating in this summit proves that this is just a theater of the absurd.

Germany is a nation with a stong base of pacifism that is enshrined in their constitution. After WWII we were an occupying army for 50 years and they have not had to consider what a real defense policy without training wheels would be.

France does not really have a strong tradition of military defense (see WWII). They have delusions of military grandeur that have no basis in reality. The French only have one aircraft carrier that leaks radiation and drops propellers (hardly awe inspiring).

Belgium historically seems to have primarily served as the HOV lane for Germany into France. Beyond being the physical headquarters of NATO the Belgium contribution to the world militarily seems to only be inneffective 'peacekeeping' under the auspices of the UN.

Finally, Luxemburg is all of 999 square miles of the middle of nowhere Europe - hardly a center of military might. I actually walked across the entire nation in one day - a branch of my family is from there (at least they weren't French!) and I was doing the 'find your roots' thing. The reason I mention this is that in my entire time in Luxemburg the only military that I saw was remnants of past WWI and WWII battles there.

I almost hope that this summit results in a strong policy statement that we in the US can stand against.

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