Foreign Policy (4)
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/02/22/mixed_metaphors
Mixed Metaphors
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http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/02/22/meet_the_sims_and_shoot_them
Meet the Sims … and Shoot Them
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http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/02/22/let_europe_be_europe
Let Europe Be Europe
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http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/02/22/the_new_rules_of_war
The New Rules of War
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An excerpt from Let Europe Be Europe:
“By the dawn of this century, Europeans had long since lost their stomach for battle. The change was not simply political. It was profoundly cultural…European governments prioritize social welfare over all other considerations — including funding their armed forces.
The cradle of Western civilization — and incubator of ambitions that drenched the contemporary age in blood — had become thoroughly debellicized. As a consequence, however willing they are to spend money updating military museums or maintaining war memorials, present-day Europeans have become altogether stingy when it comes to raising and equipping fighting armies.
This pacification of Europe is quite likely to prove irreversible. Yet even if reigniting an affinity for war among the people of, say, Germany and France were possible, why would any sane person even try? Why not allow Europeans to busy themselves with their never-ending European unification project? It keeps them out of mischief.
Washington, however, finds it difficult to accept this extraordinary gift — purchased in part through the sacrifices of U.S. soldiers — of a Europe that has laid down its arms. Instead, successive U.S. administrations have pushed, prodded, cajoled, and browbeaten European democracies to shoulder a heavier share of responsibility for maintaining world order and enforcing liberal norms.
In concrete terms, this attempt to reignite Europe’s martial spirit has found expression in the attempted conversion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from a defensive alliance into an instrument of power projection. Washington’s aim is this: take a Cold War-inspired organization designed to keep the Germans down, the Russians out, and the Americans in, and transform it into a post-Cold War arrangement in which Europe will help underwrite American globalism without, of course, being permitted any notable say regarding U.S. policy.”
Posted on 01-Apr-10 at 5:41 pm | Permalink