The eloquent Doug Bandow makes a number of serious
miscalculations over NATO in our fledgling conversation (Defending
the European Weenies/Avoiding
Disaster with NATO/
Where's the Disaster?).
First off, he plays Moscow's "blame the victim" game over the
August 2008 Russian-Georgian war, as an argument against NATO
expansion. It is a brave man who trusts the word of the unelected
and unaccountable European Commission, especially over a matter
as serious as war and peace. It is hugely convenient for the
Commission to lay the blame for the August War at the door of
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili; after all, the Russians
are in permanent violation of the EU-negotiated ceasefire, which
the EU conveniently ignores so long as Russia
supplies it with much-needed helicopters for the French
colonial (sorry, EU) mission to Chad.
Although it is completely un-testable, it is worth pondering
whether Russia would've invaded Georgia if Germany and France
hadn't colluded with Moscow to deny Georgia NATO's Membership
Action Plan at the Bucharest Summit in April 2008 (which Britain,
America and the Baltics supported).
Who cares about little Georgia? Expand the argument a little
further and there are large parts of 'Europe-proper' that can be
written off. There are two realistic futures for Europe: (1) a
Europe of free and self-determining nation-states allied with the
United States and anchored to Euro-Atlantic institutions; or (2)
a Europe divided among those whom Russia considers in its zone of
privileged interests and those who are not, who are ruled under
the iron fist of a supranational, incompetent, militarily inept
and corrupt European Union.
Mr. Bandow is correct that Kosovo didn't really "matter" to
America and that the U.S. had no overriding strategic interests
in stopping the mass killing of Kosovar Muslims in 1999.
President Clinton could have easily adopted the tone that
President Obama is taking today toward the Iranian protestors
being brutalized by the killing merchants of the atomic
ayatollahs; more so considering Kosovo's relative lack of
importance to U.S. strategic interests compared to Tehran.
However, if America won't stand for freedom, then who will? It
should also be remembered that it was the Europeans who
proclaimed, "This
is the hour of Europe. It is not the hour of the Americans,"
in 1991 when they took control of mediation efforts in
Yugoslavia. The rest is history.
It is equally unfathomable to argue that Europe should fight
Islamist extremism alone. 9/11, 7/7, 3/11 are all graphic and
tragic examples of the West's generational long struggle against
this ideological threat. The United States will need to fight
this menace on a bilateral, multilateral and -- where necessary
-- unilateral level. Therein lies NATO's inherent value, and the
purpose of Rep. Turner's NATO First Act: reinforce NATO as the
centerpiece of America's multi-layered European alliance
architecture.
