Neo-Cons for a "Strong Europe"

[LiviaOlivia]

Neo-Cons for a "Strong Europe"
By Pascal Riche
Oct 02, 2005

Here is a little scoop for TPMCafé: Bill Kristol, Robert Kagan, Gary Schmitt and other members of PNAC (the Project for a New American Century) are creating a new club called “Committee for a Strong Europe.” They just began inviting politicians and pundits from both side of the Atlantic to join. The honorary chairmen will be the former Spanish prime minister José Maria Aznar and Senator John McCain.

By “Strong Europe”, of course, they don’t mean “A Europe in which governments would be strong enough to say no to any crazy American military invasion plan,” but the statement of principle of the committee is so broadly crafted than many people could sign it. The purpose is to promote democracy, to have a stronger economy, to keep confidence in our values, etc.

However, knowing where this statement comes from, when I read “We believe both the United States and Europe should invest adequately in their armed forces so as to have strong militaries capable of serving in a wide variety of missions around the world”, I can’t help but hear a little whispering voice adding: “it’s especially true for you, you goddamn tight-fisted European wimps!”

~snip~

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/10/2/13718/6784

[tocqueville]

1. with friends like them....

we don't need any enemies...

[neweurope]

2. War is peace, and "strong" means "weak".

Aznar would be the first to jump on it. Bellusconi should be next, and certainly Poland.

:grr:

"Europe should invest adequately in their armed forces so as to have strong militaries capable of serving in a wide variety of missions around the world”

FUCK them. Sorry about the language. I do NOT want our military to be able of serving "in a wide variety of missions around the world." Not at all. Our military, if we do need it at all, should defend Germany. And NOT on the Hindukush.

--------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[damntexdem]

3. Giving up on a new American century, huh?

Gonna have to try for a new European century?

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Can anyone translate this comment in French from a PNACer?

Googleing for "Committee for a strong europe", you get this French site, which refers to an interview in Le Figaro with Bruce Jackson in which he says:

Ce n'est pas un hasard, en ce qui me concerne, si le “Projet pour le nouveau siècle américain” a cessé son existence la semaine dernière, pour être remplacé le jour suivant par le “Comité pour une Europe forte”. L'espoir de l'Administration Bush est qu'en oeuvrant à une relation transatlantique beaucoup plus étroite, on aide à remettre en selle une Europe plus forte et plus active.

That interview seems genuine - the French Google news page finds it, although the Figaro page doesn't seem available now (only recent stories available, perhaps?)

Does that first phrase mean "It's not a problem, as far as I'm concerned, if the PNAC ceased to exist last week, to be replaced by the "Committee for a Strong Europe" - or is it "it wouldn't have been a problem ... if the PNAC had ceased to exist last week..." - or something else? Did he really say the PNAC shut down in mid-Spetember? That seems to be how 'de defensa' interprets it - as does VoltaireNet ,which seems to be where TPMCafe got the story from:

Le groupe qui, au sein de l’American Enterprise Institute, avait été chargé de rédiger le programme de la présidence G. W. Bush, le Project for a New American Century (Projet pour un nouveau siècle américain), a été discrètement dissout il y a deux semaines. Il a été remplacé par un American Committee for a Strong Europe (Comité américain pour une Europe forte).

"discretely dissolved two weeks ago"? An accurate French to English tranlsation, anyone, please?

[bemildred]

6. First one says that it doesn't bother him (the name change).

Also says something like the Bush Administration hopes a
more narrow focus on a Strong Europe will work better (than
attempting to rule the World).

Second ones says PNAC was dissolved 2 wks ago and replaced
with CSE.

(I think.)

[RogueTrooper]

5. This also comes with

From the European Tribune...
Brussels braces for a US lobbying invasion

Washington is traditionally where the regulation of US companies comes head-to-head with corporate lobbyists who, in many cases, try to prevent it from happening. But there is now a growing realisation in many quarters that Brussels, not Washington, is shaping the global regulatory standards companies will have to abide by.

(...)

Many have also since discovered that Brussels is the source of an increasingly large volume of legislation, ranging from environmental and labour standards to labelling requirements and new rules for the financial services industry.

(...)

The dramatic increase in US lobbying activity in recent years means that companies such as Microsoft, Intel, Procter & Gamble, General Electric and General Motors have already opened offices in Brussels to lobby the Commission, the European parliament and the Council of Ministers – the three institutions that call the shots in the EU capital. Their desire to influence the political and regulatory process in Brussels has also swelled the ranks of the professional lobbyists in the city, now estimated to stand at 13,000.

An invasion of neo conservatives and corporate lobbyists. So the big question here is: Where are the Christianist Preachers?

[1932]

7. This is a siren song for European CEOs.

If you want to be rich like Halliburton and Bechtel, Kristol et al can help you.

I guess the encouraging thing is that Kristol and company see things not going their way in Europe to a degree that they think something like this is required.

It's also encoruaging that the politician they have involved is out of power. However, I'm sure Berlusconi will sign on. But maybe we'll get lucky and it will be after he's gone from office.

[sarcasmo]

8. That's where all of the money is going, into EUROS.

Hugo is moving his cash to EUROS and many other nations will follow when our dollar officially tanks.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. This is now published in Liberation by Pascal Riche, the TPMCafe author

(he's their Washington correspondent): http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=328188

A translation of a section, courtesy of the comments section at the European Tribune website:

Gary Schmitt, PNAC director, confirms the existence of the project for the Committee for a Strong Europe, but refuses to cite examples of early signatories. The idea of this network had been played around with during the build-up to war in Iraq, when some European bigwigs made it known they approved of Bush's foreign policy, but needed help to promote it. This was notablt the case of Aznar's think-tank (FAES, Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies), which preaches radical atlanticism. The declaration of principle of the new group is set out in very general terms, so as to attract as many public figures as possible. It's about promoting freedom, democracy, the market economy, etc.

http://www.eurotrib.com/story/2005/10/3/82357/8175

The statement of principle sounds extremely Blairite. He could sign up at once.