Europe Steyned

Yesterday the esteemed M Steyn republished one of his classic post 9/11 pieces. Like most Americans we only became Steyn-aware after 9/11*. The above linked piece is one of the reasons why.

Of NATO's post 9/11 commitments Steyn wrote:

The Nato declaration was impressive, but, even as the press release was coming off the photocopier, a big chunk of America's 18 allies were backsliding. Norway, Germany and Italy said they had no intention of contributing planes, ships or men. Even as purely political support, the first ever invocation of Article Five was written in disappearing ink. The Italian Foreign Minister – speaking for Europe's most conservative government – said "the term 'war' is inappropriate". "We are not at war," said Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, his nation's signature on that Nato document notwithstanding. Belgium holds the current Presidency of the EU and was last seen apologizing for slavery, colonialism, etc at Durban's recent UN Conference Against Whitey, Hymie And Capitalism. 

It was during this time that we realized NATO was useless. European shrugs, Token contributions,  'Oui mon General. Perhaps a company of gendarmes?'

European smug indifference kind of made one feel unappreciated. Do they not know about the huge American military cemeteries across Western Europe?

The French should have said, 'The people of Les Republique are outraged, Mr. President. the Foreign Legion is at your service. And sorry about not letting your F-111s flyover in '86.'

*Turns out our intro to Steyn was his 1999 review of The Phantom Menace in NR. As with all things, Steyn was right. He hated it.

Wither OTAN

Trump is in Europe and really socking it to our OTAN*allies.

After rebuking the Krauts for relying on Russia for energy, the President declared, “We’re paying a lot of money to protect, this has been going on for decades… it’s very unfair to our country, it’s very unfair to our taxpayers… these countries need to step it up, not over a ten year period, but immediately.”

Back during the Cold War every NATO member had a serious military. West Germany fielded two army corps, the Brits, Dutch, Danes and Belgians one each, and all had several squadrons of sophisticated combat aircraft.

Today the Luftwaffe is all but grounded, the Kriegsmarine's newest ship can't sail straight, and Bundeswehr troops in Afghanistan are too fat to fight.** 

Since the end of the Cold War Western Europe has lived in a fantasy world were history has ended, Fukayama style, and defence budgets don't really matter, all while expanding east. We always supported including parts of Eastern Europe in NATO, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czechs, but expanding into the Baltics was just spitting in the Bear's eye.

Berlin, Brussels, Paris, they want to believe that European soft power of diplomacy and trade can stop rogue regimes and bring peace. Recall that 25 years ago, OTAN's soft power couldn't prevent the Serbs from doing whatever they wanted to the people of Croatia and Bosnia. The Yugoslav War didn't end until the grownups (America) arrived with actual power like carrier battle groups.

By the way, did you know that today marks the 24th anniversary of the Serbs massacre in Srebrenica? They rolled right over passive Dutch troops and murdered 8,000 men.

So much for soft power.

*Yeah, French, look at me.
**Just google it.