European Defence: 'We Don't Need US Permission to Go to the Bathroom'

[Tinoire]

European Defence: 'We Don't Need
US Permission to Go to the Bathroom'

By GITAU WARIGI

<snip>

Meanwhile, an EU plan to develop an independent pan-European military apparatus had already caused a major rift with the US, which suspects the plan could be a cover to duplicate, or in the worst-case scenario, replace Nato, the military alliance America shares with major EU countries.

<snip>

French officials have stressed that there is no intention of "duplicating" Nato, something the US Secretary of State Colin Powell and his defence counterpart Donald Rumsfeld explicitly warned against when they separately visited the EU capital of Brussels early this month.

<snip>

An EU military force is being marketed as one which by its very nature will act multilaterally, on the basis of consensus. This is being contrasted with the unilateralist and polarising manner in which the US invaded Iraq.

<snip>

There is more acceptance in Europe that there exist genuine political grievances that need to be looked at in the Middle East. There is a view that the US thinking is tilted too blindly in favour of Israel and against the Palestinians. And very few Europeans are convinced that the Iraqi misadventure will help matters when it comes to fighting terrorism.

<snip>

With remarkable uniformity though, top French officials are anxious to point out that there is no fundamental rift with the Americans despite the nasty row over Iraq. What they want, they insist, is a measure of balance and dialogue in the relationship, certainly not a confrontation. An official in the French ministry of foreign affairs puts it thus: "We don’t accept that if we want to take a leak we have to ask Washington."

<snip>

http://www.nationaudio.com/News/EastAfrican/current/Regional/Regional221220030.html

[mike_c]

1. it's about time....

eom

[Old and In the Way]

2. I wonder how well our next PNAC acquisition will go?

Something tells me that the Age of Pax Americana is over before it started.

[Sugarbleus]

3. Yessssssssssssss

Wouldn't that be wonderful...yeah

[Voice_of_Europe]

4. WOULD be..

I agree that it would do Europe good...

But somehow I expect a divide and conquer tactic which will make the process very slow...
Specially the newer eastern members (to be) of the EU look very much in the direction of Washington instead of Bruxelles...

[xchrom]

5. these are things europe must do

the world has changed since ww2 -- and europe sees that to counter the weight of the u.s. and the coming increased influence of china -- it must promote it's own interests.
basically this is a good thing. the bad news isn't in independant military readiness -- it's how much of europes moves are being dictated by invisible corporate machinery. just like here in the u.s.
there will be a need to dissect information like that.

[buddhamama]

6. The U.S. and Eurasia:

The End Game (?) :scared:

http://www.museletter.com/archive/132.html

[Just Me]

7. Seems like common sense to me,...

,...that counter-measures would be taken to balance powers such that one power can be obtructed from acting without appropriate restraint. As in schoolyard politics, combined efforts are often required to stop and control a bully.