EU, UN and other inconsequential alphabet....

It's a possibility. At present, oil exports are denominated in US Dollars, which gives the dollar enormous leverage. Whether this will continue depends entirely what the OPEC nations perceive as their best interest. The Arab nations value monetary stability as much as any Swiss banker.

On the unity question, it seems a strange word to use in connection with an organization of which France is a member, though I don't see a relationship to UN performance.

During the recent UN untidiness, we watched France and Germany reveal their newfound alliance, and moreso France's distain for the little Eastern European countries-- A distinct rift between France and Germany against the Brits was also apparent. Spain will have a tough time dealing with France and Germany, I assume. Loyalties in Europe look like a checkerboard-- and from this, they will create concensus?

It's hard enough for a representative government to work in cohesive fashion when the goals are for one united country. When you have many seperate countries, with little as common goals, I think the odds on working together, without ruinous in-fighting are almost nil.

But, Rog, nobody on the thread agreed with me, either. Maybe I subconciously think France is incapable of anything useful. If so, my bad. :wink:

The New Cold War: U.S. vs. EU


FrontPageMagazine.com
By Mark Steyn
November 10, 2003


Excerpt:


Here's a round-up of recent items from the world's press you may have missed: Item 1: In the last two weeks, two Toronto-bound El Al flights had to be diverted to other airports after credible terrorist threats were made about using surface-to-air missiles against them. The Canadian transport minister, David Collenette, responded by suggesting that the Israeli airline's service to Pearson International Airport might be ended.

Item 2: The Baghdad hotel in which Paul Wolfowitz was staying was blown up. Several people were killed, though the US deputy defence secretary emerged unscathed. Much of the death and destruction was caused by French 68mm missiles ?'in pristine condition', according to one US officer who inspected the rocket tubes and assembly. In other words, they're not rusty leftovers Saddam had lying around from the 1980s. The Baathist dictatorship had acquired these missiles from the French rather more recently.

Item 3: According to Le Nouvel Observateur, ?'D'après un questionnaire de la Commission Européenne, 59% des Européens pensent qu'Israël est le pays le plus menaçant pour la paix dans le monde.'

Item 4: In the Guardian, Tariq Ali ended this week's column on the mounting American (and NGO) death toll in Iraq thus: ?'Iraqis have one thing of which they can be proud and of which British and US citizens should be envious: an opposition'.

On 11 September 2001, I wrote that one of the casualties of the day's events would be the Western alliance: ?'The US taxpayer's willingness to pay for the defence of Canada and Europe has contributed to the decay of America's so-called "allies", freeing them to disband their armed forces, flirt with dictators and gangster states, and essentially convert themselves to semi-non-aligned.' ?'The West' was an obsolete concept, because, as I put it later that month, for everyone but America ?'the free world is mostly a free ride'.

Two years on, most governments, at least officially, and most commentators, at least in the mainstream press, still don't believe the relationship between America and its ?'allies' is in a terminal state. But the above quartet of stories ?- and you can find equivalent items any week ?- illustrates why it can't be put back together.

One: Mr Collenette's response to terrorists is to take it out on their targets. Terrorists are threatening to use SAMs against El Al? No problem, we'll get rid of El Al. That's a great message to send. How soon before similar threats are phoned in to similarly jelly-spined jurisdictions in Europe? Pretty soon El Al won't be flying anywhere. But no matter: Air Canada and Air France and Lufthansa will still be flying to Tel Aviv ?- at least until a couple of anonymous phone calls are made hinting at fresh targets.

Full story

US goods set to double in price as Europe plans huge trade war

By Stephen Castle in Brussels
11 November 2003

Excerpt

American jeans, Florida orange juice and dozens of other US products could double in price from next month because of a growing transatlantic trade war.

The World Trade Organisation gave the European Union permission yesterday to impose huge import tariffs, which will allow price increases of between 8 and 100 per cent on a range of goods.

The row, which began when America imposed special duties of up to 30 per cent on European steel last year, reached a climax yesterday when the trade watchdog gave a final decision in favour of the EU. It said the US action was "inconsistent" with free trade commitments. Europe can now impose duties on products ranging from T-shirts and lavatory paper, to bras, pantyhose, suspenders, ballpoint pens, ski suits and bowling alley equipment. Harley Davidson motorcycles were included in an early draft of the sanctions list, but were not included yesterday.

The EU says its sanctions, amounting to ¤2.2bn (£1.5bn) a year, will come into force on 15 December unless Washington drops its steel duties. The sanctions would be the biggest in the history of the WTO.

Full story

There appears to be a shrill, self righteous, antagonism for the U.S. afoot in much of Europe that I find a bit hard to understand. The conventional explanation is that it is a result of Bush's inept handling of international dialogue and an inclination to seek only our self interest, presumably in the face of far more altruistic impulses dominating Europeans. The theory goes that after 9/11 we enjoyed the esteem and sympathy of the world and have pissed it away by our clumsy preoccupation with our own security above all else. I don't buy it and believe that it is is even more a symptom of the end of the fears associated with the Cold War; the ambition of France and Germany to lead a new united Europe and underlying growing divergence of the self interests of America and Europe.

Still I don't even find that explanation entirely satisfying. Not everyone in Europe welcomes French/German leadership and dominance. The conflict we face with the Islamist forces in the Moslem world was more or less in the cards sometime this decade, no matter what might have been our policy in recent years. The origins of this struggle go back to the fall of the Ottoman empire and the demise of European empires in west and south Asia. Indeed this and the mess in Israel/Palestine are equally legacies of European history through WWII. Oddly Europe appears to be blind to both issues (or perhaps merely willing to see us take the heat.). European forgetfulness appears to be matched only by their capacity for self-righteous indignation.

Czech warns Europe of 'dream world' woes

By Arnaud de Borchgrave
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Excerpt


Czech President Vaclav Klaus said Europeans are living in a "dream world" of welfare and long vacations and have yet to realize "they are not moving toward some sort of nirvana."
The Czech Republic is a candidate for European Union membership, but Mr. Klaus, who was elected president in February, made clear in an interview his distaste for the organization.
However, he conceded during a visit to Washington last week that "the political unification of Europe" is now in "an accelerated process ... in all aspects and in all respects."
Mr. Klaus said the movement toward a single political entity of 25 European nations "will not change until people start thinking and realizing they are not moving toward some sort of nirvana."
The Czech president remains convinced that "you cannot have democratic accountability in anything bigger than a nation state."
Asked whether he could see the nation-state disappearing, Mr. Klaus replied, "That could well be the case, [but] it remains to be seen whether it will be the nominal disappearance or the real disappearance.
"We could see the scaffolding of a nation-state that would retain a president and similar institutions, but with virtually zero influence," he said "That's my forecast. And it's not a reassuring vision of the future."

Full story

This is an interesting view and I expect we will see more of it as the EU accepts numerous new, and less wealthy members, while, at the same time, wrestling with the politicaL aspects of unification and the creation of democratic (as opposed to the merely bureaucratic) elements of EU governance.