French President Emmanuel Macron claimed that a lack of U.S. leadership is causing the "brain death" of the NATO military alliance, insisting in an interview published Thursday that the European Union must step up and start acting as a strategic world power.
That seems like rather a damning indictment of the whole European Union defense initiative that seeks to build a European military force apart from America-dominated NATO, no?
I mean, if the Europeans can't act like adults on defense within NATO with an alleged "lack of U.S. leadership" that no longer provides the brains of the alliance, why should we think that a European-only military under the EU banner would have any brains at all?
I may need to revise my whole dismissal of the value of that sophisticated European nuance thing.
The fact is that Germany would fail to spend for a European defense as much as they fail to spend for NATO, as the alliance agreed to do during the Obama administration:
DER SPIEGEL has learned that the finance minister insisted that an increase in the defense budget to 2 percent of gross domestic product, as NATO member states have pledged to do, not be anchored in the coalition government's midterm assessment. The discord between the two apparently grew so heated that the Chancellery had to step in.
Remember, the Germans often claim they can't bear to spend money on defense because of their awful Nazi past that they apparently fear will bubble up again and cause them to rampage across Europe and slaughter minority "undesirables."
Which is a problem if true, and maybe we should take them at their word after they've claimed that for so long:
Seriously, is German unwillingness to pay for common defense in line with their economic status so strong that the Germans are willing to argue that they are barely suppressed Nazis at heart despite 70+ years of being part of the West with freedom and democracy?
If the Germans say they aren't to be trusted with sharp knives and actually believe it is true, maybe NATO and Russia should just pull back a safe distance and nuke the place just to be sure.
And there isn't a lack of leadership from America as much as there is a lack of European interest in defending the continent from threats, although the other Europeans' failings are less pronounced than Germany's contrast between economic heft and military weakness.
Yet amazingly enough, the Germans condemned Macron for undermining NATO!*
Note that our Secretary of State Pompeo is calling for the Europeans to stand up for Western values and be prepared to defend them against rising threats:
"Seventy years on ... it (NATO) needs to grow and change," [Pompeo] replied. "It needs to confront the realities of today and the challenges of today."
"If nations believe that they can get the security benefit without providing NATO the resources that it needs, if they don't live up to their commitments, there is a risk that NATO could become ineffective or obsolete," he said.
It may be like herding cats, but we are leading. But the Europeans don't want to face the reality we are trying to get them to understand. Europeans liked it better with the low-key Obama complaints that European NATO states spent too little on defense. The Europeans would rather focus on the Orange Man Bad fantasy threat than the real threats to Western civilization:
Few things are as scary to European governments as the prospect of another Donald Trump victory in 2020. In less than three years, he has already taken a wrecking ball to transatlantic relations. If he has another five years to play with, the relationship could be reduced to little more than rubble.
That is truly in the running for the most idiotic entry as I struggle for signs we've reached Peak Stupid.
America is adding troops and capabilities to European defense. Pray tell what is Europe doing besides letting Russia have the power to turn off their heat in the winter?
Brain death, indeed.
The uncomfortable truth for Europeans is that the blunt Trump may actually save NATO:
Is Trump's focus on defense spending really a danger to the alliance when, as he says, inadequate European defense spending must also be discussed "as it has been for years." Leading isn't about being loved. If it was, eight years of Obama--who the Europeans swooned over like giddy school girls--would have left Trump with a NATO where no member state had inadequate defense capabilities.
Macron may be all too correct about European brain status. They clearly just aren't thinking straight.
God knows, the Europeans need us if they want to remain free.
*Yet amazingly, Germany is finally promising to meet the NATO defense-spending target--albeit 7 years late in 2031. Which will go a long way to saving NATO, I say.
