Emergency NATO Meeting Fails to Break Deadlock

Associated Press ^ | February 10, 2003 | Paul Ames

[cake_crumb]

"France and Germany, along with Belgium (I live in Belgium) is totally bankrupted and higher oil prices will finish them off by year's end - look for conservative wins at the polls."

There it is once again : the countries that are REALLY after Saddam's oil (though I don't see how freeing Iraqi oil resources to free market influence could raise oil prices) IMO, they give Saddam what he wants, and Saddam promises (via oil contracts) x-number of barrels guaranteed Iraqi oil for so many years.

[ncpastor]

We-e-ell, the desserts aren't bad.

[af_vet_rr]

I agree. This appears all about a Franco-German design to sweep away the NATO infrastructure so that their EDF can become the foremost European Union military force.

All they would have to do is change patches and it's done. With the US out, it becomes a non-issue. If you look at France/Germany, they are pushing all of the changes. England is resisting, but the other countries act like they'll go along with whoever comes out on top in this little power struggle (and it feels like a power struggle between the US and Germany/France).

[SuziQ]

An emergency NATO meeting called after France, Germany and Belgium again blocked a U.S. request to start planning Turkey's defense in the event of war in Iraq ended Monday with no breakthrough, diplomats said.

If these countries are not going to honor the NATO treaty, then of what use are they?

[TennesseeProfessor]

Turkey has invoked Article IV, which requires member states to defend each other. Thefore, France, Belgium, and Germany have violated the treaty. If we can not kick them out, then we ourselves should leave NATO and form a new alliance with Turkey, Britain, Australia, Poland, and our other true allies.

[Southern Federalist]

From Turkey's point of view this is serious betrayal, and it comes on top of the EU rebuff, which was awash in Old Europe snideness and insult. While I don't usually like this sort of argument, but in this case it is surely true: France really wouldn't have dared to do this if the Turks weren't little swarthy people regarded by Eurocrats as Not Really Our Type.

This could be the turning point at which Turkey starts to abandon its European orientation and joins up with the Anglosphere. The US - Britain - Eastern Europe - Turkey - Israel - India - Australia -- that's about got it covered.

[Southern Federalist]

I didn't realize it, but as I was looking around I noticed that Turkey has been a member of NATO since 1952 -- longer than the Germans! That really adds to the smack in the face here.