Translation:
The development of European defense is no longer seen as a competition from NATO, but more as a European side of NATO
No EU defense operation outside of NATO ...
NATO sectors for Europe -- Israel leads Middle East NATO -- Australia heads Indonesia-Pacific NATO -- global Article 5 for imperial security.
Europe's New Defense Ambitions: Implications for NATO, the U.S., and Russia | Marshall. Enter - April 2000 |
The paper argues that the political and strategic consequences of injecting defense issues into the structures of the EU remain unclear. Although Europe's defense ambitions are not designed to undermine NATO, they do place into question NATO's future role in the management of European security. Transatlantic tensions over the relationship between the "New EU" (i.e., an EU with its own military capabilities) and NATO are already evident.
The Kosovo air war of spring 1999 was a turning point for Europeans, in that the war highlighted the superiority of American military resources and infrastructures. The war demonstrated that, despite years of talk and paperwork, Europeans were still unable to back up their economic and diplomatic prowess with military means. "Kosovo" made it painfully clear that Europe depends upon American military capabilities. It also accentuated the fact that U.S. leadership in Europe is problematic and that Washington is unwilling to incur casualties in European conflicts where U.S. national interests are not clearly at stake.
The European Defence and Security Union: How Should It Look Like? | Nov. 13, 2017 |
ESDU is not a new idea. It was first discussed during the Convention on the Future of Europe (CFE), which drafted the EU's failed constitution in 2001-2003. During the CFE, France and Germany called for developing an ESDU on the grounds that `a Europe fully capable of taking action' was not feasible without 'enhancing its military capabilities'
The idea was also raised in April 2003 [US-UK illegal Iraq War] by France, Germany, Belgium, and Luxembourg. At the time, however, ESDU did not gain steam because Atlanticist EU member states--notably the UK--saw it as an attempt to undermine the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Although the European Parliament (EP) brought up ESDU again in 2006, the idea remained more or less buried until 2015-2016.
1) Titled: "Requirements for the Constitutional Treaty for a European Union capable of Peace" 😅
UN speech by France and its FM Dominique de Villepin vilified as representative of the surrender monkeys, glory to Freedom Fries in US Congress.
Dominique de Villepin "Un vieux pays, la France, d'un vieux continent, l'Europe" | Feb. 14, 2003 |
Prophetic Speeches: Dominique de Villepin at the UN Security Council in February 2003 | July 14, 2020 |
"In this temple of the United Nations, we are the guardians of an ideal, the guardians of a conscience. The onerous responsibility and immense honour we have must lead us to give priority to disarmament in peace." As Dominique de Villepin finished his speech to the UN Security Council, outlining France's position on a potential war in Iraq, a rare round of applause rang out. The French Foreign Minister had laid out his deep beliefs that a war in Iraq would further de-stabilize the Middle East, increase extremist terrorism, and weaken the international system of governance.
In effect, he announced France would not support a unilateral US invasion of Iraq, coming head to head with the world's superpower. However, the neoconservative establishment in Washington would ignore Villepin's warnings. Within 10 years, the American superpower was noticeably dented, while Iraq became a breeding ground for international terrorism and international institutions lost legitimacy.
Major Scott Ritter as former UNSCOM inspector before US Armed Forces committee Storm Thurmond on Iraq Chemical and Biological Weapons (1998)
Senator Joe Biden's rage at Scott Ritter as the US goes to war in Iraq on fabrication of lies, by ridiculing the experienced weapons inspector.
"... above your pay grade boy, that is why you don't ride in a limousine ..."
Ambiguous alliance: Neutrality, opt-outs, and European defence | ECFR - June 28, 2021 |
When Austria applied to join the European Communities (EC) in 1989, the European Commission opined that the applicant's "permanent neutrality" would be incompatible "with the provisions of the existing treaties" and would pose a problem to "the obligations entailed [by the EC's] future common foreign and security policy". Still, in 1993, shortly after the Maastricht Treaty converted the EC into the European Union and established the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the bloc launched accession negotiations with neutral Austria. The country became a member of the EU in 1995.
Austria is not the only state that has joined the EU or its predecessor organisations despite being neutral. Ireland joined the EC in 1973. Finland and Sweden became members of the EU in 1995; Cyprus and Malta in 2004. These six countries self-identify as "neutral" or "non-aligned". Some of them have enshrined this status in their constitutions; others' neutrality is less formalised but no less ingrained. While neutrality remains a somewhat elusive and ambiguous concept in international relations, experts generally agree that neutral states are prohibited from joining military alliances. This is why none of the six neutral states is a member of NATO. They are, however, members of the EU - whose declared aim is to become a "fully-fledged European defence union" by 2025.
Joe Biden fixed that problem of Europe's defense underfunding, illustrating US superiority in the years 2021-22.
European security after NATO's Madrid summit | Brookings |
Israel-Arab 'Middle East NATO' in the making? Tel Aviv & Arabs in U.S-led alliance against Iran.
Earlier last week, Israel's defense minister, Benny Gantz, said Israel had joined a new US-led network that he called the Middle East Air Defense Alliance, or MEAD. Gantz did not specify which Arab nations might also be involved. International media outlets, including Reuters and The Associated Press, were unable to fully verify the Israeli announcement or the title.
Western Alliances Pivot to China Threat
NATO to set stage for extending into Asia-Pacific, faces internal difference | Global Times |
The NATO summit, to be held in Madrid, will for the first time include the top leaders of four Asia-Pacific countries, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, and also for the first time, the bloc will identity China in its new strategic concept, a key document on NATO's future security trial and military development to be adopted at the summit.
NATO and some of the US allies have ramped up efforts to hype the so-called China threat. For example, the White House released the readout on US President Joe Biden's meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday ahead of the G7 summit, in which it noted that the two leaders discussed the challenges posed by China. An anonymous White House official was also cited by Reuters as saying that the US is confident that NATO's new strategy document will include "strong" language on China.
NATO will massively boost the number of troops on high readiness to over 300,000, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.
Rising turmoil in US, UK and EU undercuts grand plans to play a bigger role in Indo-Pacific