It seems less likely there will be war as time passes. The war as a last resort crowd, with France and Germany leading, is building new resorts every day.

I choose to take this as a good sign. It means the anglosphere is taking aggressive action to counter this "Mirage" charade by France.

Yeah, Fred, but again, America will have to pick up the pieces. It's 1939 all over again.

Via Lucianne:

As a reaction to Germany's anti-war stance, the United States is reportedly putting economic pressure on Berlin. The Sunday newspaper Welt am Sonntag reports that the U.S. has decided to cut its planned multi-million investments in German military bases. The Bush administration has also threatened to put economic pressure on German companies that do business with Iraq, the paper reports. Those companies would compromise their ties to their U.S. partners. Germany has strong trade ties with Iraq worth some €336 million.

The news from Europe this morning is that Belgium will be using its NATO veto (unclear whether France and Germany will also use theirs, it wouldn't be surprising if they do; one veto is all that's needed to block a decision) against engaging all allies in the pending war against Iraq. The vote is to take place tomorrow morning.

Russia is to give its support to the new France-Germany resolution, the one that pissed Rumsfeld off because the US was not consulted.

Good. We need to get a veto----to serve as final notice that NATO is now as useless as the UN. NATO was always a joke. Like most "mutual defence" treaties, it was in truth one giant who would be carrying the entire burden, and a bunch of protectees. For political reasons, everybody pretended it was an alliance of equals, but it was and is just a polite fiction.

Seems that the pigmies somehow got to believing that they were somehow co-equals. Belgium????? As the French say, "It is to laugh!". Is the Belgium Army capable of doing anything other than a nifty parade?

The trouble with NATO is that" partners" like France and Germany and Belgium are in it. It needs to be reformulated, probably renamed. Can you imagine how many countries around the world would jump at the chance to join a military alliance with the USA? This could be our big chance to preempt the EU and form a power bloc that could last a while. And the best part would be the Frogs and Krauts coming to us on their knees begging to join after they suffer a few 9/11 events.

How about less than 24 hours for the Bushista regime to leave town? They are, after all, a much greater threat to world peace than anyone else.

Don't. feed. the. trolls. must. resist.

Submit to the will of Allah, Mark, and all will be peaceful.

From GIParty:

FPCon Bravo

Force Protection condition Bravo has been implemented. Dumpsters have been moved away from the buildings. Entries into buildings have been reduced to one per building; all the other doors are locked. IDs are being checked at building entrances.

We're asked to keep all military items and uniforms out of cars, and to keep those cars locked. Stay alert. Keep a look out for suspicious packages. An increased and more predictable threat of terrorist activity exists.

Sandy, I noticed that when I came into work today as well. (I work at Lockheed Martin aka Air Force Plant No. 4) Luckily the guards know me and didn't waste my time searching my purse. They are searching cars that park nex the plant again, though.

Anyway, regarding that article. I am not sure we will even bother putting in a second resolution. The talk from Washington doesn't seem to support it. I personally don't think it's necessary, and all it will do is cause problems for Blair. Obviously the U.S. isn't very impacted by French and German opinions, but Britian is.

No, they'll follow the rules. They'll listen on the 14th, call for an immediate up-or-down vote. Maybe piss around for the weekend. Vote on Monday, issue the warning, and move in on Wednesday. Cocktails in Baghdad by Thursday.