WRONG OCEAN :

Europeans: From Venus? (Daniel Pipes, July 16, 2002, New York Post

Americans are from Mars; Europeans, from Venus. Europeans spend their money on social services, Americans continue to devote large sums to the military. Europeans draw lessons from their successful pacifying of post-1945 Germany; Americans draw lessons from their defeat of Nazi Germany and of the Soviet bloc. Kagan's insights have important implications:

* U.S.-European differences are not transitory, but long-term.

* They are likely to grow with time.

* Europe is highly unlikely to develop a military power to rival America's.

* As Europe settles into strategic irrelevance, Americans need pay it less and less attention.

* Contrarily, because Washington so predominates, it should make gestures to win European goodwill.

* NATO is little more than a shell.

* Americans should look increasingly to countries outside Europe - Turkey, Israel and India come first to mind - for meaningful military
alliances.

That last bit is probably the most important thing we need to realize about Europe, that our military and strategic future depends more on the newer democracies than on the old. NATO has served its purpose and we should quietly withdraw. Better now to form a new alliance with Israel, Russia, Turkey, India, and some of the other pro-Western nations that surround the Islamic world and China. And membership in the alliance should be offered to countries like Jordan, Iran, and the like as a reward for liberalizing their governments and abandoning support of radical Islamic terror. It may not be surprising that we remain trapped in a North Atlantic mindset, but it is dangerous. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 16, 2002 9:09 AM