[Nasional-e] America acts the grown-up

[Ambon]

  America acts the grown-up

Max Boot IHT  Tuesday, November 26, 2002

Europe needs guidance

PRAGUE The heavily guarded hoopla of NATO's summit last week masked growing
doubts on both sides of the Atlantic about whether the alliance has much of
a future. Many Americans feel that, from a security standpoint, Europe is a
backwater; the real action is in the Mideast and Asia. Many Europeans feel
that Europe is now so safe from external threat that it no longer needs
Uncle Sam's protection. So should NATO go the way of the Warsaw Pact? No -
but for a reason that neither side can officially acknowledge. NATO's
continuing purpose is to save Europe from the consequences of its own
strategic nearsightedness and moral obtuseness.
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Harold Macmillan once quipped that the British had to be the wise Greeks to
America's bumptious Romans, but the reality is that the Greeks (and the
French and the Germans and the Belgians and … ) need the latter-day Romans'
guidance.
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In the early 1990s, many American officials assumed that the European Union
would take the lead in dealing with security problems on its frontiers.
Europe flunked the test in two ways. First, it refused to admit East
Europeans immediately into the exclusive European Union. Second, it took no
decisive action to end the bloodletting in the former Yugoslavia.
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In both instances it was left to the Clinton administration to step in and
deal with the mess. The United States led military missions to end Serbian
ethnic cleansing in both Bosnia and Kosovo, and U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke
negotiated an accord for the partition of Bosnia. The Europeans followed the
American lead by providing peacekeeping forces, but nothing would have
happened without Washington's leadership.
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When the EU closed the door on enlargement to the East, Washington opened
the door to NATO. In 1999, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic were
admitted; now come Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia
and Slovenia. This remarkable achievement has helped to consolidate
democracy in the East, much to the benefit of Western Europe. But the
original NATO members had to be dragged into enlargement, kicking and
screaming, by Washington.
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The European Union is only now preparing to grant membership to eight East
European states.
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But, although Turkey has been part of NATO since 1952, it still can't get
out of the starting gate in its bid to join the EU. This represents a
spectacular bit of geopolitical folly. Turkey is the most moderate and
democratic of Muslims nations. By brushing off its bid for membership, the
EU makes it more likely that Turkey will revert to the extremism that
characterizes its Middle Eastern neighbors, thus becoming a huge headache
for Europe on its doorstep. President George W. Bush is making this case to
European leaders. Unfortunately, this is only one of many instances in which
Europe has allowed sentiment to trump self-interest. While tough on the
friendly Turks, Europe has a long history of appeasing terrorists and rogue
rulers, from Moammar Gadhafi to Saddam Hussein. The Italian, Greek and
French governments have been lenient, leading to suspicions that they are
trying to buy the goodwill of Middle Eastern terrorists. Yet far from
limiting their attacks to Israel and America, Islamist fanatics have been
busy plotting against European targets ranging from the Eiffel Tower to the
London Underground.
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Europeans may finally be waking up to the need to get tough with terrorists.
But they still seem willing to cut lucrative deals with Saddam Hussein, and
never mind that their trading partner has a disturbing tendency toward
genocide. Perhaps Europeans feel free to ignore the threat from Iraq because
they have got into the habit of outsourcing their protection to the United
States. European defense budgets remain woefully low, with the average NATO
member spending less than 60 percent per capita of what America spends.
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The only bright spot on the horizon is the rapid reaction force created at
last week's NATO summit. Please note that this is an American initiative.
The French idea of an independent European army is headed nowhere fast.
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On issue after issue, the pattern is clear: America acts, Europe acts up.
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What does America get out of this? The satisfaction of extending peace and
freedom in an important region - but scant thanks from the Europeans, who
have adopted the attitude of a petulant 16-year-old toward his parents. Oh
well, that's what America gets for being the grown-up in this relationship.
The writer is Olin senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and
author of "The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American
Power." He contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune.