--- Richard Baker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > You'll notice that in the email you quoted I > described the American > contribution as "vital". For that matter, Lend-Lease > aid to Britain and > especially to the Soviet Union was a vital > contribution to the defeat > of the Third Reich and Marshall Plan aid an > extremely important > contribution to the post-war material wellbeing of > Europeans. For all > of this, those of us in Europe owe the US a great > debt. Nevertheless, > saying that European-style foreign policies are > worthless isn't true > given the existence of a European Union built using > those methods. > Whether these methods will work further afield is > debatable, but then > so is the universal efficacy of overwhelming > military force in solving > problems. > > Rich
I guess I disagree with you on two points. First, I don't think the European Union was built using the methods that you describe. Or more accurately, I would say that those methods were useful only because the strategic climate was shaped by the American soliders who standing around looking non-threatening. Without that, what you're describing would have been impossible. So within a "zone of security", European-style foreign policies are useful, certainly. But that zone of security was created by the presence of overwhelming force on the part of the United States. Outside of Western Europe, that zone of security does no exist. So when Europeans try to take their style of diplomacy outside that zone, they quickly run into its (very constricted) limits. Serbia is a good example, but there are lots and lots of others. Europe has the option of simply not acting outside of the zone - but it has that option because someone else (the US) will act. If we failed to do so, what would happen? For example, suppose the US went isolationist, and Iraq invaded Kuwait again. What could Europe do about that? The question, once asked, is answered. Nothing at all. But _outside of Europe_ all diplomacy is conducted with the threat of force in the background. You (hopfully) are never called upon to use that threat. But if you don't have it - if, when attacked, you don't have the capacity to defend yourself and your allies - then you're either a state dependent upon the goodwill of others (in which case there are obvious limitations upon your freedom of action) or you're just there as a dilettante. Europe has chosen - and again, it was a choice, one taken over strenuous and continued protests from the United States - not to have that capacity. Gautam __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
