Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's comments about "Old Europe" being out of step has drawn fierce scowls and finger-wagging from representatives thereof (France and Germany, to be precise). Some of the criticism is actually kind of amusing:

In an editorial, Bild reminded Rumsfeld of his German roots and the ideals of the French Revolution which inspired the United States' constitution.

Let's see -- should Rumsfeld have been more of a fascist, or more of a Prussian autocrat, to stay true to his "German roots"?

And implying that the US Constitution sprang out of whole cloth based on the "ideals" of the French Revolution would probably give any history teacher fits. Never mind that the French Revolution was in 1789, two years after the Constitution was ratified, and over a decade after the American Revolution began. Never mind that the French Revolution led to the Terror, and Napoleon, and a string of "Republics."

Granted, both Revolutions sprang out of Enlightenment thinkers, including a few in France, like Rousseau (and a few elsewhere, like Locke and Hobbes). But suggesting that the current US foreign policy ought to be controlled by, or even parallel with, French foreign policy for that reason is historically inane.

"Mister Rumsfeld, hundreds of thousands of your G.I.'s fell for 'old Europe' because they freed us from the tyranny of Hitler. You are sinning against your own heroes by disparaging 'old Europe'. Your G.I.'s died for the ideals of your place of origin," Bild wrote in an editorial.

No, they died for the ideals of their place of origin, the US. They died because Old Europe was, even then, too sick to fight off the hate and man-on-a-white-horse rescue from Depression that Hitler represented to Germany, or fight him off when his aggression became known. Appeasement and exhaustion seem watchwords for Old Europe.

French newspapers quoted French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie as saying: "We are no longer in prehistoric times when whoever had the biggest club would try to knock the other guy out so he could steal his mammoth skin."

An odd sentiment from a defense minister, but symptomatic. Actually, internationally, that's exactly where we still are. The only thing that stops most countries from doing just that is (a) enlightened self-interest, or (b) folks like the US with bigger clubs, or (c) folks like France who are willing to hand over their mammoth skins first, then scold the bullies once they've done so.

Germany's left-wing Tageszeitung suggested the U.S. should follow the example of Russia and China in its approach to Iraq.
"Rumsfeld has a problem with age. The U.S. defense minister calls France and Germany 'old', the rest of Europe 'young' and wants a quick war with Iraq. Nuclear powers like China and Russia favor more level-headedness," Tageszeitung said.

Yeah, because everyone -- especially the Europeans -- should want the US to model its foreign policy on that of China and Russia. That's a clever idea.

Jeez.

(via SDB, who notes that Bild's argument would seem to indicate that they owe us, not the other way around.)

Filed under :: Geopolitical Brouhaha
Link · Print · Edit · TR/G

Heh. I will say that it's amusing how the French rolled over and decided to sit out the Second World War after only six weeks . . .

"Oh, no, we'd much raAAther sit in caféz and sip our drinks and ogle ze pretty girlz . . ."

I will give due credit to the French soldiers, who were saddled with incompetent leadership and outdated tactics. Credit also ought to go to those Free French who continued the fight against the Nazis.

As to those who got France into the mess in the first place, let alone those who collaborated ...