 Euro-American ties: True friends and the 'axis of appeasement'
UNITED NATIONS Ñ The recent visit to Washington by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the consistent British backing of American efforts to oust Saddam Hussein have been deeply appreciated by the Bush Administration. BritainÕs near singular European support for AmericaÕs effort to disarm Iraq has of course rekindled the special Anglo/American relationship.
Now comes a vital letter of solidarity with Washington by seven additional European nations Ñ notably Portugal and Spain as well as the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, and Poland. Notably missing are the what some politicos in Washington are calling the Axis of Appeasement Ñ France, Germany, and needless to say Russia.
ItÕs easy to say cynically that for these countries to offer the USA political backing against Saddam costs little and is likely to gather much in reciprocal reward. True, but they donÕt have to do it, judging by the NATO allies notably absent from the list.
Portugal and Spain, two NATO allies and tried and true friends, and the Danes who have chosen to remain great, and Italy support the U.S. stance against Saddam.
Equally for young, renewed democracies like the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland whose history has a special relationship with the bitter fruits of appeasement and sellout, the backing for America is all the more poignant and significant.
FranceÕs President Jacques Chirac who does know better, has played a policy of political pique against Washington while giving the impression that a pariah state such as Iraq can somehow be tolerated. France has warned it may use its Security Council veto to block a new UN resolution. The Paris daily Le Monde, prints crude front page cartoons depicting President Bush in caricatures which would have made the old Soviet Pravda blush for their tub thumping anti-Americanism.
France while playing a very dangerous diplomatic game, has maneuvered herself into a diplomatic impasse which can be catastrophic to her long term interests. Paris will likely do a demarche and join Anglo/American military efforts for a simple reason Ñ they wish to be on the winning side in a post-Saddam Iraq. French economic interests will not be served by being frozen out of a political settlement and thus France, as in the First Gulf War against Saddam, will play its military role.
Germany whose diplomacy, if one may politely call it that under Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, has been blindsided by his socialist governmentÕs reckless impulse that despite conceding Iraq is a rogue regime, itÕs the Bush Administration which is cast as the proverbial threat to world peace and not the Iraqi dictator.
Put bluntly, to offset attention on a floundering economy, Schroeder has played a cheap political game over Iraq which has done more to isolate and damage GermanyÕs image than to solve any Middle Eastern problems. This is largely because BerlinÕs Social Democratic government comprises a narrowly-elected fractious coalition, recently buffeted in two humiliating state election losses. SchroederÕs Iraq policy seems to willfully belittle once smooth relations with the US, the vital element of GermanyÕs post-war security and prosperity.
GermanyÕs postwar democratic culture with both Christian and Social Democratic Chancellors such as Konrad Adenauer, Helmut Schmidt, and Helmut Kohl possessed a political gravitas grossly overshadowing Gerhard Schroeder.
Ironically trans-Atlantic fulminations between Washington and the Old Europe Ñ France and Germany Ñ has sadly demonized the very democracies the US helped create and nourish in the post-1945 era. While Washington argues with Paris and Berlin, the dictator in Baghdad has a good laugh. Yes, the U.S. needs serious political damage control in parts of Europe. And the Old Europe needs a history lesson.
John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense
issues. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.
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