Shades of Charles the Great de Gaulle and the late not-so-great-Cold War--for just as that long twilight struggle was getting under way the fabled general and president announced that he was pulling his country out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
This time DeGaulle's lines were being read by Jean-Claude Juncker, EU Commission president. "Together we have to make sure that we protect our interests." The words of Herr Juncker, who was delivering his annual State of the European Union Address before a meeting of the European Parliament, are welcomed. For it is indeed time Europe was Europe again, what with the Bear on the prowl, Islamists blowing up every target they can can find in the Maghreb and points far and beyond like the United States of America and both Paris and Washington besieged.
Why, it's all enough to wake up even The Hon. Barack Obama, who has chimed in by saying in his own less than charming way: "I'll be honest, sometimes Europe has been complacent about its own defense." As if this president and commander-in-chief of his country's armed forces hadn't been.
(Why do people insist on beginning their own confessions with "I'll be honest" as if they weren't always as a matter of course? The phrase adds little to their rhetoric and detracts much.)
To quote Guy Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister who's got the right idea: "We need a European Defense Union--for our internal and external security. The Americans want us to take more responsibility for our own neighborhood. We need credible, hard power ourselves."
Even if the Brits are holding back after Brexit, the Brexiteers are on the wrong track this time if they fail to support a stronger Europe, which makes democracy stronger worldwide. Herr Juncker noted that a stronger, self-supporting NATO also made economic sense. The notion that the weaker our allies, the stronger we are has to be the most arrant nonsense. Who needs weak, poor allies?
Herr Juncker noted that the members of the European Community could cut as much as 100 billion euros in wasted, duplicated expenses a year by sound management. Instead he proposed a European defense fund to help encourage military research and development, just as American economic aid to allies like Israel helps both nations. A policy of beggar-thy-neighbor only turns the whole neighborhood into a slum. Lest we forget, even General de Gaulle moved to assure Washington that he would stand by us if words came to missiles.
Editorial on 09/21/2016