Good Cowboys bring peace when they come!
RERUNS WILL BE SEEN IN IRAN, SYRIA, AND NORTH KOREA IF THEIR DICTATORS ARE STILL IN POWER!
Posted on 04/08/2003 2:48:46 PM PDT by mikenola
Avoid caveman politics, Solana urges US
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A landmark speech by the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, at Harvard University on Monday is set to spark off the debate on future relations between the US and the EU after the huge damage created by the American-led preventative war against Iraq.
Mr Solana picked up on many points laid out an article published last year that got policy tongues wagging on both sides of the Atlantic, Robert Kagan's 'Power and Weakness' in which he depicts Europeans as being from Venus and Americans from Mars.
"I am from Venus, which according to its detractors, is faint-hearted, soft-headed and militarily and politically weak. You are from Mars, which I am told is powerful, virile, dynamic: a land of moral clarity and resolute action," said Mr Solana before using the rest of the speech to stress how American and EU good relations are essential for the well-being of the whole world.
A new world order? Speaking of the Iraq war which, for many Europeans was the final straw after a series of American unilateral steps such as not signing up to the International Criminal Court or the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, the foreign policy chief said "it may be the first war of a new era."
This was a "dramatic display of American dominance" he said adding the current divisions have never before been so "sharp" and raise questions "about the new world order."
"Treat your friends like allies and they will behave like allies" Mr Solana suggested that both sides should commit themselves to four principles to "re-establish [a] sense of common purpose.
First, that the two sides are "allies and partners." "Treat your friends like allies and they will behave like allies," suggests Mr Solana
The second is that both sides should "make fair contributions." "Contribute like an ally and you will be treated like an ally." He acknowledged the American criticism of Europe for not doing much in defence, but said "real progress is being made."
But he defended Europe's peacekeeping approach. "How much additional security does an aircraft carrier bring? Is it more or less than spending the equivalent amount of money on peacekeeping or reconstruction of failed states?"
A world based on rules The third principle is that both sides must address the symptoms of problems too. "While not ignoring the capabilities of our enemies, we must also address the motivations that drive them to acquire those capabilities.
As his fourth principle, Mr Solana makes a plea for abiding by international law, which the Americans violated by taking preventive action against Iraq and by by-passing the United Nations.
Both sides should act together to "sustain and strengthen a world based on rules." He refuted the idea that there is some inherent opposition between power (the US method) and law (the EU method) and instead said "law and power are two sides of the same coin."
Politics of the caveman He urged the US away from a position of isolation which would be "a disaster" and said that American dominance through force would be a "return to the politics of the cave man."
Finally, he urged the US to treat the European Union as a whole. It would be a mistake for the US to "cherry-pick" from among its European allies. The EU has capacities that it individual members lack.
"It would be your loss and ours if we were to start quarrelling again," concluded the EU's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security policy.
I'm from Jupiter. I'm stupider.
You are from someplace closer to Uranus.
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But I will say that I would vote to make the EU the focus of our next preemptive military action.
At least he got part of the lesson right. The other is leave us alone and don't threaten us or our true friends and we'll not blow your f&*^ing head off.
OK. Inasmuch as a majority of the governments in the European Union are supporting the U.S. military activities in Iraq, does that mean that France and Germany will go along with them?
Sure got quiet all of a sudden...
How many more hundreds of years is it going to take them to finally figure out that we couldn't possibly care less what they think of us.
Go screw yourselves you twonk-faced boobs.
In other words, don't return to isolationism and stop protecting Europe. But only protect yourself if France says it's OK.
Good Cowboys bring peace when they come!
RERUNS WILL BE SEEN IN IRAN, SYRIA, AND NORTH KOREA IF THEIR DICTATORS ARE STILL IN POWER!
A Heck of a lot more. (Then again, a single shot pistol in the hands of a free man provides more security than all the UN operations in the world combined.)
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