MIRVed Allies

Politically speaking, our Alliance reminds me increasingly of those ominously named Multiple Independently Targeted Re-entry Vehicles so beloved of the military strategists. Alternatively, unguided missiles would do as a metaphor. At all events, it is both clear and lamentable that America’s European allies are not firing at the same targets as the United States; nor are all the Europeans necessarily firing at the same targets.

The confusion of purpose and objectives is appalling, the more so against the backdrop of momentous events in Poland. The French, for instance, chose the precise moment when President Reagan, threatened by a Libyan hit team, was announcing stern measures against Colonel Qaddafi’s regime, to let it be known that they would be seeking closer relations with Tripoli. Helpfully, the British Foreign Office said it would not be associating itself with any U.S. measures against the mad colonel.

Politically speaking, our Alliance reminds me increasingly of those ominously named Multiple Independently Targeted Re-entry Vehicles so beloved of the military strategists. Alternatively, unguided missiles would do as a metaphor. At all events, it is both clear and lamentable that America’s European allies are not firing at the same targets as the United States; nor are all the Europeans necessarily firing at the same targets.

The confusion of purpose and objectives is appalling, the more so against the backdrop of momentous events in Poland. The French, for instance, chose the precise moment when President Reagan, threatened by a Libyan hit team, was announcing stern measures against Colonel Qaddafi’s regime, to let it be known that they would be seeking closer relations with Tripoli. Helpfully, the British Foreign Office said it would not be associating itself with any U.S. measures against the mad colonel.