Shaky Alliance

Some of my American friends are very upset, not to say indignant, about the lack of reliability of their European allies. I have to sympathize with them. But what are the reasons for this unreliability or, to put it more candidly, this lack of loyalty? It would surely be a mistake to put all the blame on differences over the matter of Poland. As always, there are several reasons, most of which lie far deeper and are more permanent in nature.

1. There is the nasty European habit of harking back to the past. We Europeans are in the frightful spot we are in largely because America has put us there. Consider the fact that the United States has barely a toehold on the rim of the Old World—while the Red Army sits a mere 145 miles from the Dutch border. (An analogy: Red China’s army on the banks of the Mississippi.)

EK

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Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn

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Some of my American friends are very upset, not to say indignant, about the lack of reliability of their European allies. I have to sympathize with them. But what are the reasons for this unreliability or, to put it more candidly, this lack of loyalty? It would surely be a mistake to put all the blame on differences over the matter of Poland. As always, there are several reasons, most of which lie far deeper and are more permanent in nature.

1. There is the nasty European habit of harking back to the past. We Europeans are in the frightful spot we are in largely because America has put us there. Consider the fact that the United States has barely a toehold on the rim of the Old World—while the Red Army sits a mere 145 miles from the Dutch border. (An analogy: Red China’s army on the banks of the Mississippi.)