The EU does not know why it should ever sacrifice its sons in military conflict. What sacred values are worth defending at such a high cost? The EU isn't prepared to enter a conflict with Iran, with all its potentially devastating human casualties and economic hardships.
There is a reason for this, of course:
After the horrors of World War II, Western Europe turned to new ideals of radical pacifism and post-nationalism. The Continent had been devastated by war twice in three decades. In the 1950s, the desire to avoid more war led it to a new ideology, permeating society and politics, that viewed national interests and cultural traditions as relative. As a result, people started to believe that peaceful coexistence with communist Eastern Europe was better than emphasizing the differences between East and West.
And remember, in the run up to World War II, before one of the hot wars and the long terrifying Cold War, Western Europeans were slow to rise to their own defense despite what in retrospect was a clear threat:
In March 1936 the West did nothing over the German occupation of the Rhineland.
In March 1938 the West did nothing about the seizure of Austria figuring they were Germans and happy to joing Germany anyway.
In September 1938, the Munich Agreement Was boasted as successfully appeasing the Germans.
In October 1938, the West watched as the Germans occupied Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland, fearful but frozen by the fear that they did not have enough power to stop Hitler.
In August 1939, the West watched as the Nazi-Soviet pact was signed, seeing their lone enemy gain a major ally.
In September 1939, the West finally acted when the Germans invaded Poland by declaring war on Germany; but did nothing and even looked at how to intervene on Finland's side as the Soviets invaded Finland in the winter of 1939-1940.
So getting a spine took much time and took place only among the lonely survivors of the enemy's first strikes.And really, the West did nothing throughout the Sitzkrieg of the winter of 1939-1940, finally only fighting when the Germans moved west against Norway and Denmark in April 1940 and against France and the Low Countries in May 1940.
Churchill did not rise to power until May 1940, finally showing that Britain would fight and not cut a deal with the Nazis.
So where is Europe today in the process of standing up to Iran's threat?
Will they yet try to sacrifice Iraq or Israel in hopes that Iran will want no more?
Will they first sign a surrender and proudly call it victory before concluding they must resist?
Will Europe turn on the wrong enemy with their first burst of spine?
And which European states will be knocked out of the West before the rest fight with the full conviction that they must win or fall, too?
And how hard and long will the fight be before we win?
A lovely decade we have here, eh?
