Comments on Global Power Europe: Why both Europeans and Americans need a strong Eur...

Any updates coming soon, I'm really waiting! Cheer...

2008-08-04T17:44:00.000+01:00

Any updates coming soon, I'm really waiting!
Cheers.

Anon: No. It can’t work like that, otherwise we'll...

2008-07-01T23:40:00.000+01:00

Anon: No. It can’t work like that, otherwise we'll have numerous ‘mini mass armies’, much as we have at the moment. Much of the equipment is not very inter-operable, we have several different languages, different command structures, different operational strategies and projected tempos, and a hodgepodge of intelligence gathering capabilities. For a strong Europe this does not make.

It is

Perhaps to some extent, though I don't believe tha...

2008-07-01T23:36:00.000+01:00

Perhaps to some extent, though I don't believe that a unified EU Military would be the best way of going about it.

As for 'our' defence and security needs - I presume you're talking about the EU. The point I was trying to make is that if each member state was to beef up their own military individually first, then they could look at a more unified structure. But I don't think that one

Hamjatta: I understood fully what you meant; but I...

2008-07-01T21:29:00.000+01:00

Hamjatta: I understood fully what you meant; but I fear that you still do not get my point. My argument was/is that the United States ongoing reorientation of its interests and its military and political assets, a consequence of geopolitical changes, will one day render NATO—as it currently stands—an irrelevance, so we do not need to worry about the need for grand statements on its

James, i don't think you get my point at all. Let ...

2008-07-01T20:57:00.000+01:00

James, i don't think you get my point at all. Let me try again.

(a) My key argument is that European AUTONOMY on matters of security (especially if it is allowed that it should be commensurate with the wealth Europeans are producing and the material consequences thereof) is NOT coterminous with NATO, such as it is;

(b) ex hypothesi, if one accepts that a more autonomous European

Anon: Quite simply, the individual Member States o...

2008-07-01T16:31:00.000+01:00

Anon: Quite simply, the individual Member States of the European Union are too small to have active defence industrial bases, able to produce the type of equipment we need for our defence, security and foreign policy needs. This is true even in Britain and France: Britain, for example, will be working at maximum capacity to build just two large aircraft carriers; and the French have just put

Hamjatta: Kagan does not need to call for the dism...

2008-07-01T16:25:00.000+01:00

Hamjatta: Kagan does not need to call for the dismemberment of NATO. What he has acknowledged, however—and this is critical—is the fact that the ongoing rise (or resurgence) of new powers like China and Russia puts American hegemony in to question. You might argue this acknowledgement should have been realised many years ago, when many Americans, including neoconservatives, conservatives, and

Surely the problem the United States has is that, ...

2008-07-01T16:04:00.000+01:00

Surely the problem the United States has is that, as you rightly pointed out, they may loose an ally in Britain or France due to a possible decline in hard power. I therefore would have thought it would be more important to try and boost the hard power of those member states first. At present, national governments have far more power to raise defence spending than any EU bloc does. For example,

"I also detect that the mood in the United States ...

2008-06-30T22:07:00.000+01:00

"I also detect that the mood in the United States is changing to be more supportive of an autonomous and capable European military power (hence Kagan)...which could further compound this trajectory towards a more united and political Europe..."

I wonder. The seriousness, or indeed lack thereof, of Kagan et al towards a more united Europe - that is, united and strong irrespective of

Hi Ralf: My opinion on this is obviously going to ...

2008-06-29T14:09:00.000+01:00

Hi Ralf: My opinion on this is obviously going to be biased, but I would argue that it is better for the United Kingdom to be in the Union than sitting outside. Having a prickly, isolationist Britain off the coast of the mainland is hardly a desirable option for other Europeans, and in many ways it is just possible that the next stages of the European enterprise are wholly dependent on British

The interdependence of US and EU interests is real...

2008-06-29T06:49:00.000+01:00

The interdependence of US and EU interests is real, as you and Kagan point out.

But a lame and incapacitated European Union is unable to get its act together in its neighbourhood or in the wider world.

The Lisbon Treaty would alleviate some of the problems of impotence, without curing them.

But prolonged uncertainty is, of course, even worse, and in the end the