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Whoa
Posted by Stephen Green · 4 February 2003
Hot off Drudge comes this UPI story: France is no longer an ally of the United States and the NATO alliance "must develop a strategy to contain our erstwhile ally or we will not be talking about a NATO alliance" the head of the Pentagon's top advisory board said in Washington Tuesday. Sure, the warbloggers and many real-world commentators have been saying this for months, some for years. But this is Richard Perle speaking, who holds quite some sway in Washington as chairman of the Pentagon's civilian Defense Policy Board. His statement could end up influencing White House (and, yes, even State Department) policy for the length of this Administration -- if not longer. Now don't go off the deep end and think we'll be forward-deploying forces to the Italian Alps, or loading up a MEU at Dover for another cross-Channel assault. What Perle seems to mean by containing "our erstwhile ally" is diplomacy, not threats. The (accidental?) Bush SOTU/Wall Street Journal maneuver last week looks now like a preview of more things to come. The Gang of Eight was a start. Tomorrow's Powell presentation to the UN will be another step. We already boxed France into a corner, and they can expect, I think, many more attempts just like it. Anyone know the French for "howling"? Because we're going to be hearing a lot of it. Comments
Don't look now, but it looks like the "gang of eight" is about to become the "gand of 18." See:
Posted by: John Galt at February 4, 2003 03:18 PM
The word is "hurler." And I'm looking forward to it. Posted by: Katherine at February 4, 2003 03:19 PMI expect the NYT to emphasize that we do not have "crucial" support from Belarus any time now... Posted by: E. Nough at February 4, 2003 03:57 PMI think it's time to throw em to the wolves. To that end: This isn't that earth shaking,people are merely acknowledging that the post- dailypundit has a disturbing link to Debka, and I don't doubt some of it is true. I also wouldn't put it past the froggies to also be giving operational intelligence to them. Posted by: Sandy P. at February 4, 2003 07:51 PMMy suspicion is that Perle went off the reservation, and will probably have his chain yanked. The statement is simply too truculent. By the way, this essay by Joe Katzman really should be read by more folks: The Blogosphere and the War in Europe I enjoy bashing the French as much as anyone, but there comes a point where you have to get beyond the jokes. Wishing for Europe to come apart is to sow the wind. Posted by: Dean Esmay at February 4, 2003 11:21 PMDean, except for some real mouth foamers, I don't see a whole lot of eagerness for Europe to come apart. But we'd sure as hell appreciate if certain European nations would start behaving like real Western Civilized countries. Posted by: Stephen Green at February 4, 2003 11:35 PMCold Fury seems to be down right now, but I saved a copy of this poster for (drumroll).... The new production of "The Axis of Weasel" (the adult version): Posted by: Eric E. Coe at February 5, 2003 07:15 AMI do not expect "Europe to come apart" but I do most cretainly hope that our major news media will stop treating statement by Chirac and Schroeder as "Europe". They are as much that as the Speaker of the House is "The US". No, they are less... Oops, did not mean to make it so obvious I am a cretin: for "cretainly" use "certainly". The problem with Germany and France can be explained in one word. Socialism. The rot began in the 1850s. "The Proud Tower" by Tuchman explains a lot of what is happening today. Posted by: M. Simon at February 6, 2003 05:36 AM |
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