The EU as a Military Superpower?
Arthur Chrenkoff posts about this article in which the EU announces plans to move from just a political power to a military superpower, closing the gap with the US on defense technology. They want to give us a run for our money!I don't honestly think they'll ever get it done. There appear to be too many obstacles. For one,
EU members such as Ireland and Sweden fear their traditional neutrality is being
threatened, while in Britain there has been concern that the initiative will
undermine NATO and its close military relationship with the US.
That used to being protected by the biggest umbrella in the land are not likely to give up that protection easily.
I have further doubts as to whether or not those peace-loving Euros are going to subsidize this grand extravaganza of goals. I have a feeling that a people who don't feel the need to work more than 34 hours a week will be disinclined to pay the taxes that this effort will require. And it won't come cheap! They don't have just a technology gap, but I suspect an infrastructure and people gap as well.
And, since this military might presupposes that the individual nations can come to an accord on foreign policy, it additionally looks bad. I don't know how a region that has been historically fraught with war, has nations that are now ready to give their sovereignty over to a committee. A common currency is one thing...but I think this is a bit much to expect, given the still young nature of the EU.
Let us not forget that these nations are not necessarily banding together because of a threat, and I think that is a critical point. A mutual external military threat would go along way toward creating consensus. But as I understand it, European nations face more internal issues from Muslim extremists that are now citizens, than they do from external forces. The EU leaders (with the notable exception of some) have recently portrayed a laissez-faire attitude to world issues, at least fixing them anyway.
What changes if they have a fleet of tanks and bombers? Nothing. They are still bleeding internally and are unable to staunch the flow for lack of funds. Back to the money. They'll be spending a lot on this new military endeavor, therefore not spending the cash on intelligence and other issues that might make more sense given current world threats and their own continuing internal problems.
I wonder if this really isn't about them feeling better about themselves. You know, sort of an incredibly expensive makeover in the image of those they wish to emulate (the USA, even though they would never admit it).
The other issue in this is that the EU wants to lift an arms embargo on China. (That would be one way to help pay for all that new stuff.) Unfortunately, the US Congress has a big problem with this.
The US Congress has warned it will consider retaliatory trade action against
European countries that start selling military technology to China, a move
Washington fears would threaten Taiwan and US troops in the region.
Resuming arms sales to China "is a non-starter with Congress", Joseph Biden, senior Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, said after a meeting with Mr Bush.
Republican senator Richard Lugar said that if the embargo were lifted, Congress might impose "a prohibition on a great number of technical skills and materials, or products, being available to Europeans".
