Germany joins France, Belgium in blocking NATO planning to protect Turkey

AP | 2/10/03

[kattracks]

BERLIN (AP) -- Germany joined France and Belgium on Monday in blocking the start of NATO military planning to protect Turkey against the threat of an Iraqi missile attack.

"We are joining Belgium and France," Foreign Ministry spokesman Walter Lindner said.

The announcement came after France and Belgium blocked the move at the NATO alliance in Brussels, Belgium.

NATO officials said France formally blocked the move an hour before NATO procedures would have automatically started the military planning at 4 a.m. EST.

At a weekend defense conference in Munich, Defense Minister Peter Struck had still hinted that Germany might be willing to lift its objections.

[Arkie2]

NATO: RIP

[petuniasevan]

The Axis of Weasels is complete.


No protection for the Turks? What a bunch of pious hypocrites in the German government. Where would they be if WE hadn't protected BERLIN from the Soviets in 1949?

Euroweenies show their true colors once again.

[t4texas]

Germany=Moe; France=Shemp; so I guess Belgium must be Larry (I couldn't bring myself to insult Curly by including him in this group!)

[Hoosier-Daddy]

It may be time to reconsider NATO, in that it is well past time for the Europeans to fully take on the expense to defend and protect themselves. The economies of the EU states are strong enough in their own right to be able to afford the costs. We can spend the savings on missile defense and rapid force projection, and let the surrender monkeys take care of themselves. The US no longer needs to subsidize a basic responsibility of nation-states.

[jrlc]

Irrelevant -- just like the UN. We ought to scrap both, or just quit paying the bills and wait until they collapse. Who are the Frogs going to cry to when the ragheads destroy the Eiffel Tower?

[Highest Authority]

Boycott ALL French and German products!!!!!!

[anobjectivist]

buh bye NATO, UN, France, Germany.

[petuniasevan]

[Martyboy1]

Et tu, Brute?

[petuniasevan]

[shezza]

"We've been waiting for you, Belgie!"

[AFPhys]

The war on terrorism is showing just how impotent and irrelevant the methods of the 19th Century are going to be during the 21st Century. The UN, NATO, and even the attempt to form a European Union will be smashed on the shoals of the New World we must lead.

[bullpup]

I'll second that..

To bad this wasn't decided before we got sucked into the Balkans quagmire..

That was a bondoggle that didn't even concern NATO....

Looks like we may lose bothe NATO and the U.N.

With the cost savings we maybe can improve our defenses..and save our soverniegty....

[doosee]

blocking the start of NATO military planning

My guess is that plan is already in place. This is just some bureaucrat chatter.

[bullpup]

I'll second that..

To bad this wasn't decided before we got sucked into the Balkans quagmire..

That was a bondoggle that didn't even concern NATO....

Looks like we may lose bothe NATO and the U.N.

With the cost savings we maybe can improve our defenses..and save our soverniegty....

[UncleSamUSA]

I agree wholeheartedly on an immediate BOYCOTT of all French and German and Russian goods. I'd add Belguim to the list, but can anyone figure out anything actually made in Belguim??

Second NATO is Dead. Kaput. It was formed as an alliance to counter the Commie Warsaw Pact after WWII and to protect the weasels from the Red Army. Now that the Soviet Empire and the Warsaw Pact are no more, NATO has no real purpose.

Clearly, NATO is impotent in the current War on Terror since several memebers of the "alliance" are working in full cahoots with the Terror Makers. So let's face reality and scrap NATO and form a second Atlantic-Mediterranean Alliance against Terror. Let in the Brits, Italians, Spanish, the East European countries and anyone in the region who stands With Us and Against Terror. That would mean bye-bye to Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and anyone else who hinders us.

Third, I dont think any future Secretary of State will ever advise a President of the United States to forestall any foreign policy decision until the UN has acted. That policy of UN-consensus is also, alas, quite dead.

[Cicero]

Defense Minister Peter Struck had still hinted that Germany might be willing to lift its objections.

Too late for that, pretty boy.

[Lion's Cub]

No protection for the Turks?

It isn't just the Turks. No AWACS or patriots that were supposed to come from NATO leaves our troops in Turkey open to pre-emptive attack from Iraq. We probably do have some of those there, but refusing these now (heck, we probably supplied them in the first place), puts our servicepeople at greater risk.

[Lion's Cub]

Speaking of the Balkans, I think we will need those troops. I don't care if Germany and France and Belgium get overrun by islamists.