Re: Euro Europe is close to critical mass. I think it's going to come up a dud. YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!
Huh? I'm afraid I've already heard it before.... Anyway, here're some interesting analyses:
Europe Chirac : Therapy The anti-American temptation persists.
Author/s: John O'Sullivan
Issue: Dec 6, 1999
Dresden, Germany
findarticles.com
Excerpt:
In an Atlantic alliance resting on two equal pillars --the EU and the U.S.-- such disputes would be fought out more closely, bitterly, and divisively. Thus the American concern, recently expressed by Congress, over the European Security and Defense Initiative (ESDI). It holds out at least the possibility of the very "de-coupling" of Europe and the United States that everyone has denounced.
Exactly where does that leave the U.S.? The next president will find himself facing a partner in the European Union with a social-democratic political culture that is much fonder than America of arms control, the United Nations, and binding international law. In the past, such differences were reconciled because the Soviet threat imposed its own discipline on NATO members and because some European states, notably Britain, were closer to the United States. But the Soviet threat is no more. And as Britain is increasingly integrated into European structures, not only is its freedom of action circumscribed --a common European foreign policy, for instance, would almost certainly forbid Britain's support of the U.S. over Iraq-- but also its political culture is increasingly assimilated into Europe's. What this promises is a series of future disputes on foreign policy between the U.S. and a united Europe that has the beginnings of an independent military capability.
A common response --heard at Dresden but not universally accepted-- is that Europe will never spend enough money to meet likely threats. That may well be wishful thinking. Domestic political opponents of European integration have consistently dismissed its early initiatives as trivial, doomed, or symbolic, [or dud?] only to see them grow into real institutions, such as the euro. European integration is a new nationalism in its own right, fired by a real passion that Europe should be the equal of the U.S., and attracting increasing support among European elites. By describing itself as an antidote to nationalism, it has largely disarmed the suspicions that any European nationalism should arouse. But if "Europe" rises to superpower status, and if its distinctive foreign-policy culture is reinforced by a series of disputes with America, it will increasingly define its interests in opposition to those of the U.S.
[snip]
____________________
US regards Euro army as threat to Nato role
By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor, and Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
NATO allies outside the European Union - especially the United States and Turkey - are worried that the European rapid reaction force will weaken the transatlantic alliance.
The candidates of the US presidential election have been too embroiled in their political contest to pay attention to events in Brussels.
Both Al Gore and George W Bush, however, will want to make sure that the force will mean a real increase in European military capacity rather than a "decoupling" of Nato and the end of American dominance on security issues in Europe, according to diplomats.
Earlier this month, Dick Cheney, Mr Bush's running mate, said: "What we care about, and care about a lot, is Nato, and ensuring that nothing is created within Europe which could undermine it."
America is unlikely to be explicit in its criticism. "The US administration will go along with it, but there is no question that the Americans are worried," said Jonathan Eyal, the director of studies at the Royal United Services Institute.
Turkey, a vital Nato ally during the Cold War, has made no secret of its dismay. It sees the creation of a European rapid reaction force as a step towards excluding it from Europe.
The prime minister, Bulent Ecevit, earlier this year complained that the Europeans were taking an "irrational and disrespectful" stand.
Last year, Turkey offered a brigade of ground troops backed by naval forces and army components to the new force, but was ignored by the EU's military powers. Under a fragile arrangement it is now agreed that Turkey will contribute up to 3,000 troops to fight alongside the Union units, but will not participate in the command structure.
Relations between Turkey and the EU are deteriorating on several fronts, with a growing number of voices in Ankara talking of a "Christian cabal" determined to keep the country at arm's length for ever despite promises that it would be considered for EU membership.
Ankara is irritated that the European Commission is demanding a resolution of the Cyprus conflict as a condition for progress on Turkey's EU "accession partnership".
Other non-EU Nato members in eastern Europe, such as Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, seem to be less worried because they are confident that they will, sooner or later, be admitted to the European club.
lineone.net
________________
To be sure, Europeans are hopeful that Turkey's current meltdown has pulled the country back in Stone Age.... After all, how could a country living on IMF stamps seriously bid for the "Euro Platinum Card" LOL!
Gus. |
