Now What?
Anne Applebaum looks at the European reaction to the Iraq Study Group report and asks: What happens after the gloating ends? For years now the elites in Europe and the left have been attacking the US over the war in Iraq. But what are the alternatives? What will Europe do to help address not just Iraq issues but world issues without the US?
BERLIN — On the day James Baker's Iraq report was published, I gritted my teeth and waited for the well-earned, long-awaited, Franco-German "Old Europe" gloat to begin. I didn't wait long. "America Faces Up to the Iraq Disaster" read a headline in Der Spiegel. In the patronizing tones of a senior doctor, Le Monde diagnosed the "political feverishness" gripping Washington in Baker's wake. Suddeutsche Zeitung said the report "stripped Bush of his authority," although Le Figaro opined that nothing Baker proposed could improve the "catastrophic state" of Iraq anyway.
And then, for two weeks . . . silence. If there are politicians, academics or journalists anywhere in Germany and France who have better ideas about how to improve the catastrophic state of Iraq, they aren't speaking very loudly. There is no question that America's credibility has been undermined by the Iraq war, in "Old Europe" as everywhere else. There is no question that America's reputation for competence has been destroyed. But that doesn't mean there are dozens of eager candidates, or even one eager candidate, clamoring to replace us.
She points out that in that silence, reality is beginning to sink in over in Europe. What can they do if the US withdrawal - which is all the Baker plan is - precipitates the bloodbath that every, single, thinking person knows will occur. What about having a dreadfully destabilized Middle East much closer to Europe's front doors? Even the Europeans realize that their diplomacy is failing utterly to contain, or even slow down, Iran's nuclear ambitions. The years and years of undermining the US at every turn are going to reap dividends for Europe all right. Just maybe not the ones they really want.
Nor is there anybody here, of any stature, who believes that Europe — for all its recent economic improvement, for all its trading power and for all its dislike of American foreign policy — is going to replace the United States anytime soon. Germany is about to take over the rotating presidency of the European Union, and therefore Germany is discussing E.U. integration policy, E.U. immigration policy and E.U. economics. Germany is not discussing how the European Union will take on a leading military and diplomatic role in the Middle East. And not even Germany wants any of the other potential world powers — Russia, say, or China — to replace the United States in the role of dominant superpower.
In this weird reality, there is a very narrow sliver of hope: Maybe now the Germans, and even the French, will finally come to realize that there is no alternative to the transatlantic partnership, no better international military organization than NATO, no real "role" for any of us outside the Western alliance — even if only because all the alternatives are worse. Maybe the Old Europeans will find inspiration to support and contribute further to the alliance, diplomatically and ideologically if not militarily. Maybe the United States will come to the same realization, too.
The only real alternatives for Europe and the West itself is a strong and unified stance. The constant blocking and haranguing of the US by Europe is already providing opportunities for a resurgent Russia, organized more like a crime syndicate than a normal government, to feel emboldened. In spite of the Russian government's ostensible involvement in attempts to stop the Iranian Manhattan Project, they are going to go ahead with nuclear fuel sales to Tehran. Despite Europe's supposed backing of the NATO mission in Afghanistan, the French are drawing down their troops and the Germans are debating whether they should stay. So what are the alternatives to American power? What are the alternatives to depending on America to shoulder the defense burden of Europe which European governments have counted on for years?
Now what, Europe? Now what?
Civilization, War, World news | Gaius Tuesday, 19 December , 2006
By TC@LeatherPenguin, Wednesday, 20 December , 2006 @ 12:03 am
Old Europe–England included, because beyond Blair, there’s nothing there–needs to get thrown under the bus and be told they are on their own if they don’t realize they are facing extinction.
Putin is Boss Tweed writ large, with nukes to boot.
By Kyle, Wednesday, 20 December , 2006 @ 11:25 am
“The only real alternatives for Europe and the West itself is a strong and unified stance.”
First step: get a US that listens to its allies. How to do that: elect a president who isn’t a 10-year-old.
“The constant blocking and haranguing of the US by Europe is already providing opportunities for a resurgent Russia…”
Too bad the constant blocking and haranguing of the US by Europe didn’t keep us from starting that stupid war.
Here’s the news flash: France was right, Bush was wrong. Not only was France right, everyone was right. Except for the people who agreed with Bush. And that includes you, genius.