Heavy On The Graves

Mark Steyn looks at the act of piracy on the high seas that Iran committed  against British sailors and marines operating under UN auspices. He concludes that the incident exposes the foolishness of the transnationalists and their complete impotence in the face of real aggression. As he puts it, statements expressing "grave concern" end up heavy on the graves.

But this is a season of anniversaries. A few days ago, the European Union was celebrating its 50th birthday with the usual lame-o Euro-boosterism. I said up above that the 15 hostages are "British subjects." But, as a point of law, they are also "citizens of the European Union." Even Oxford and Hoover's Timothy Garton Ash, one of the most indefatigable of those Euro-boosters, seemed to recognize the Iranian action was a challenge to Europe's pretensions. "Fifteen Europeans were kidnapped from Iraqi territorial waters by Iranian Revolutionary Guards," he wrote. "Those 14 European men and one European woman have been held at an undisclosed location for nearly a week, interrogated, denied consular access, but shown on Iranian television, with one of them making a staged 'confession,' clearly under duress. So if Europe is as it claims to be, what's it going to do about it?''

Short answer: Nothing.

Slightly longer answer: The 15 "European" hostages aren't making that much news in "Europe." And, insofar as they have, other "Europeans" — i.e., Belgians, Germans and whatnot — don't look on the 15 hostages as "Europeans" but as Brits. Europe has more economic leverage on Iran than America has. The European Union is the Islamic Republic's biggest trading partner, accounting for 40 percent of Iranian exports. They are in a position to inflict serious pain on Tehran. But not for 15 British servicemen. There may be "European citizens," but there is no European polity.

OK, well, how about the United Nations? Those student demonstrators want the execution of "British aggressors." In fact, they're U.N. aggressors. HMS Cornwall is the base for multinational marine security patrols in the Gulf: a mission authorized by the United Nations. So what's the U.N. doing about this affront to its authority and (in the public humiliation of the captives) of the Geneva Conventions?

Short answer: Nothing.

Slightly longer answer: The British ambassador to the U.N. had wanted the Security Council to pass a resolution ''deploring'' Iran's conduct. But the Russians objected to all this hotheaded inflammatory lingo about ''deploring,'' and so the Security Council instead expressed its ''grave concern'' about the situation. That and $4.95 will get you a decaf latte. Ask the folks in Darfur what they've got to show for years of the U.N.'s "grave concerns" — heavy on the graves, less so on the concern.

Yet, like the Americans, the British persist in trying to resolve real crises through pseudo-institutions. A bunch of unelected multinational technocrats can designate an entire continent as "citizens of Europe" but, as Pat Buchanan wrote the other day, "dry documents, no matter how eloquent, abstract ideas, no matter how beautiful, do not a nation make." Similarly, the West's transnational romantics can fantasize about "one-world government," but, given the constituent parts, it's likely to be a lot more like Syria writ large than Sweden. In fact, it already is.

I posted about Europe expressing support for Britain the other day. I hoped that they were waking up. I see today that they refuse to use the one and only lever, however weak it is, that they have on Iran. Europe will not back economic sanctions against a gang of outright pirates. This is not a good thing for Europe or for the world. They have just demonstrated how hollow and useless their transnational fairy tales are, once and for all. If the West will not clamp down on state-sponsored piracy on the high seas, which is exactly what Iran pulled - then we are rapidly approaching the real war that the Utopians profess to abhor. And they are the ones who will be to blame for it - and for all the deaths that accompany it.

Other Links to this Post

1. A Blog For All — Sunday, 1 April , 2007 @ 8:44 am

2. Joust The Facts — Sunday, 1 April , 2007 @ 9:59 am