De-linking Europe’s Security from America’s

When a corpse is in a state of putrefaction, the only logical and healthful thing to do is to get rid of it – bury it or burn it – and not just keep holding mourning services around it. And NATO happens to be one such corpse.

Last week, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told a European think tank during his swan song in that continent – before Leon Panetta assumes that misnamed post (Minister or Secretary of War would be a far more appropriate title), that future leadership in America may not consider this NATO-US relationship a worthy investment. And it was during this 11-day trek overseas that he pointed out his displeasure in what he considers weaknesses and failures within the alliance.

But Gates, and his martial staff at the Pentagon, have it all wrong. One could argue that the US is not part of NATO the way the European members, Turkey and Canada are; it is the other 27 member nations, big and small, that are de facto part of the imperial army, like it or not. America always calls the wars to be had; and, when that happens, NATO, docilely, waits for its military orders from the Pentagon, rewritten in Brussels as part of the political show. However, in the latter years, that docility has become more of a passive resistance, often blamed on cuts in Defense spending, even when unpopularity of American wars of choice was the true villain. Gates’ concern about Europe’s lack of appetite for Defense has it all wrong once again: it’s not lack of appetite for Defense but lack of appetite for war, made-in-America unnecessary wars.

Both Europe and the US would be served well if NATO came to an end. Let the Europeans, if they see a need for military association, create their own Defence corps. And let America stand on its unilateral warmongering and grave mistakes. The change will do both good, Europe and the US. Maybe then a way can be found, under the auspices of a more neutral Europe, for a permanent peace in Palestine and elsewhere.

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