October 22, 2004
SEEING HOW WE MADE A COMPLETE HASH OF THE OLD ONE...
Europe Seeking New Role in World Affairs (Robert Wielaard, The State, October 22nd, 2004)
The 25-member European Union - now comprising eight ex-communist nations and considering membership for Muslim-dominated Turkey - is busily crafting a "Wider Europe" as well.It would stretch far beyond the EU's formal borders and aim to lock nearby lands into democracy and good neighborly relations through tailor-made programs of trade and assistance.
But the blueprint for a "ring of friends" making Europe's neighborhood safe, secure and prosperous comes with complications: There is Israel and its nuclear ambiguity and security morass. Russia, Ukraine and Belarus show creeping authoritarianism. Libya may be emerging from the cold, but it is still a dictatorship. The Balkans remain a scary doorstep.
In many ways, however, this may be the very point.
The EU's outreach program to sometimes dangerous places beyond its borders marks a dramatic shift in Europe's perception of how it can play a key - perhaps central - role in world affairs: The strategy is one of exploiting economic clout to both achieve influence on the world stage and shape the rim of Europe. Perhaps Europe might even school America - and its many Euro-cynics - in the merits of persuasion rather than force.
"We want to strengthen the instruments available to us to become a dynamic protagonist in the world. The EU has a leading role to play in securing human rights and democracy," said Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who is set to take over as the EU external relations commissioner on Nov. 1.
If the United States has in the post-Sept. 11 era become more willing to use its overwhelming military might as a stick to bring nations into line, the EU appears to be awakening to the possibility that the lure of "Old World" good life can be a comparably persuasive carrot in provoking change in areas of chaos and repression.
It’s a little confusing, but the idea seems to be that while the U.S. wastes its money on national defense, Europe will be protected by buffer states with declining populations discussing postmodernism in charming cafes over pate and fine wines. Shrewd.
Wotcha Peter
Glad to see you're still well-and-truly sticking it to the cafe-dwelling, black-rollneck-and-beret-sporting, cheroot-smoking, existentialism-discussing Euro artistes.
Good man :-)
Posted by: Brit at October 22, 2004 10:25 AMThe EU will make a great Caliphate.
Posted by: Guy T. at October 22, 2004 10:46 AMExcept that money spent on national defense is not "wasted." The history of technology is the history of military technology. Military necessity drives progress as nothing else can. For example, when Eli Whitney devoloped interchangeabnle machine-part technology in the early 19th Century, it wasn't because her wanted to make more and better cotton gins.
To deny the interrelationship of military competition and progress is like King Canute denying the tides.
Posted by: Lou Gots at October 22, 2004 11:17 AMHey, Brit, where have you been? We've been worried sick about you. Did ya hear Darwin has been even more discredited in the meantime. Just ask Orrin.
Posted by: Peter B at October 22, 2004 12:32 PM>Europe will be protected by
>buffer states with declining populations
>discussing postmodernism in charming cafes over
>pate and fine wines.
See how Allah prepares the Infidel for slaughter at the hands of the Faithful?
Posted by: Ken at October 22, 2004 12:51 PMRussia, Ukraine and Belarus show creeping authoritarianism.
At least in the case of Belarus, when exactly did it ever stop being an authoritarian state?
Posted by: MB at October 22, 2004 2:12 PMMB, when Stankevich was in charge early on, but once Lukashenka took over it became a kind of Disney version of the old Soviet Union, think of a Stalinland at Epcot.
The Europeans are completely convinced of their own moral supremacy, and fully believe the rest of the world is as well. Unfortunately for them, that is not the case. Russians, Americans and Australians see it as effeteness. And Muslims look at them and salivate, like a pack of hungry hyenas.
Our best policy right now would be to ignore Old Europe, split off the East and any other nation like Italy which sees this Euro-dopiness for what it is, and work together with Russia and Japan in the WOT and anything else in the future. When the Euros start getting murdered in huge numbers by the Muslims, we can sit back and laugh.
Posted by: Bart at October 22, 2004 4:04 PMDon't buffer states usually prove to be the hungriest (and the least stable)?
Posted by: jim hamlen at October 22, 2004 10:23 PMDon't these people remember Suez?
Posted by: ratbert at October 24, 2004 1:22 AMYo Peter
I rather felt I needed to get reacquainted with that old enemy, 'work'.
I've had a wee peep at the archives and have cheerfully noted that Orrin is more crackpot than ever on the Darwinism front.
Posted by: Brit at October 25, 2004 4:25 AMPeter
Thanks for your email, by the way. Much appreciated. I've sent a reply.
Posted by: Brit at October 25, 2004 8:28 AM