Posted on 01/31/2005 12:15:54 PM PST by quidnunc
Over lunch at a Washington think-tank some time ago, a high-ranking German official told the room about his country's determination to win a seat on the United Nations Security Council. The reaction? From the Americans present, indifference verging on boredom. For the Europeans, though, it was as if the official had dropped a concrete block on their toes.
It was a fascinating moment of culture clash that demonstrates some ominous truths about American-European relations. The first truth is the traditionalism of American policy elites. Even when the evidence is thrust into American faces, it is hard for them to accept that things have changed in the old alliance. From 1947 until 1991, US-European relations were guided by the rule that America would provide the protection and Europe the deference.
With the collapse of Soviet military power, the deal became obsolete. Yet this large geopolitical change has made little impression on American policy elites. Indeed, John Kerry won the backing of almost all of this elite by running a presidential campaign that promised that the alliance could be restored with just a few sweet words.
So, the colossal fact that Germany is no longer willing to trust the US, Britain or France to represent its interests in the Security Council — that its leaders believe themselves to have achieved a status equal to that of the US, Russia and China — elicits nothing more than a ho-hum from Americans. Despite the confrontation over Iraq, despite German technology sales to Iran, despite the enthusiasm of Germans for the conspiracy theories of Michael Moore and Andreas von Bulow (polls show that one out of three Germans under 30 believe the US government staged the attacks of September 11 2001), Americans continue to believe that the Europe and the Germany of 2005 are the same as those of 1985.
-snip-
Whatever course America takes, the world has arrived at a turning point. Everybody else seems to realise it. It is time for Americans to notice it too.
I agree with Charles Krauthammer's suggestion: We should pull out of the UN, and help create another international entity where the criteria for membership is that the nation is a democracy. The UN, in it's post-World War II organization, is an anachronism.
Hardly. We believe that the Euroweasels are not to be trusted - and we yawn indifferently because the UN Security is becoming irrelevant.
I mean really - what are you going to do? Pass resolution after resolution until the villians of the world die from boredom?
The ho-hum response from the Americans was based on the fact we all know the UN and the Security Council is a farce - sorry but it is Europe that is stuck in the past, not the other way around.
...and the monies paid to ngo's (like the un), jerk-countries like france & germany, would stop immediately!
"UN Security Council" is an oxymoron.
There is a certain amount of cultural lag as elites trained in one set of circumstances are displaced.
What was most ridiculous about Kerry is that his views were not informed by any perception of American interest. They were molded by the kind of Henry James Syndrome (i.e., slavish adoration of all things European, practically to the point of a neocolonialist psychology of dependence) typical of Boston-New York-Washington liberal arts educated elites.
I really can't recall when it ever did. Even during the Cold War Germany had a case of "What have you done for me lately?" Only worrying about its own freedom and security, and how many US troops it would take.
"Americans continue to believe that the Europe and the Germany of 2005 are the same as those of 1985"
I don't know if that statement is even true. In my case and for millions of other Americans, we no longer see Germany as an ally anymore. The Atlantic dynamic HAS changed. It is now in American interests to keep Germany OFF the security council.
Maybe the author is talking about the rat's nest of the foreign policy elites that Condi is going to clean up.
No. Germany is not stuck in the past. That is precisely the problem. And it is more Europe's problem than ours.
The Germans are fed up with apologizing for the Holocaust. They are fed up with being guilt tripped by the rest of Europe. They are fed up with essentially subsidizing the EU project. They are fed up with German money going to build infrastructure in Eastern Europe even as German companies move German jobs there. They feel enormously put upon by the rest of Europe because the German economy has been the engine of the EU and it has sputtered since reunification.
The Germans want a seat on the Security Council ? Why not give them ours ?
They've also got a socialist and inefficient economy that is practically stagnant these days. If they are fed up, why not with their black hole of a welfare state. Surely there's got to be a good reason for their companies to move to low corporate tax Eastern Europe. What they do need is a German version of Maggie Thatcher.
Bonn would be as good a place as any for a new UN building.
Better yet, give them France's.
We should pull out of the UN, and help create another international entity where the criteria for membership is that the nation is a democracy. The UN, in it's post-World War II organization, is an anachronism.
This is exactly what I told my Senator. His reply was that he he thought the U.N. too powerful a force for us to remove ourselves from. Kinda' sounded like Chamberlin to me.
Give the EUnuchs ONE seat. Give the seat freed up to India. Then give one to Japan.
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