Läste en väldigt intressant artikel på Steyn Online om Obamas nya internationella politik, NATO och vilka konsekvenser det får för Västeuropa.
Today, the salient feature of the modern world is the urge to self-limit. The wealthiest jurisdictions on the planet have no “power” as it’s conventionally understood – and, indeed, that’s the point: They’re projecting post-power power, which, being that it’s non-existent, has no limits whatsoever. In 2002 the Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen gave a speech in London saying that “the EU must not develop into a military superpower but must become a great power that will not take up arms at any occasion in order to defend its own interests.” Good luck with that. Mr Lipponen objected to my derision by suggesting I’d missed some subtle nuances of his along the way, but for the life of me I can’t see what they are. Aside from anything else, anyone urging a Continent capable of “taking up arms” would be up against basic Euro-math: You can have massive welfare or a credible military, but not both. Indeed, with Europe’s deathbed demography, the former is barely affordable even without the latter.
Det är väldigt intressant då jag just nu är djupt försjunken i detaljerade skildringar av Kalla Kriget.
Ett citat av Niccolo Machiavelli dyker upp i mitt inre: ”In order to know what is going to happen one must know what has happened”
So what happens when America embraces Euro-sized government? The US can’t buck the basic arithmetic any more than Sweden can: A social-democratic America at home presupposes cuts in Pax Americana abroad. Those allies in tough neighborhoods – Israel next to Iran; India next to Pakistan; Japan next to North Korea; Eastern Europe in the shadow of a resurgent Russia – have already noted America’s passivity in the face of explicit threats. But eventually Western Europe will, too: at the top table, the big guy is heading for the washroom.
Helt klart rekommenderad läsning!