Allies Still?

Richard Baehr summarizes why Europe has abandoned Israel. So why are the Europeans so hostile to Israel, and so sympathetic to the Palestinians?

There are a number of factors that explain European behavior towards Israel. I have identified seven of them:

Europe's dependence on Middle East oil
Europe's rivalry with the US
The growing number of Muslims and their militancy
The small number of Jews, and their passivity
The role of elites in Europe's politics
Europe's long term disease of anti-Semitism, and
The decline of Christianity in Europe.

In the process, it clarifies why Europe (with a few exceptions, most notably Britain) can not be considered an Allie of the United States. For the most part, Europe and the US do not have similar national interests. This discrepancy was most evident during the run up to the Iraq War.

Part of the resistance to American efforts may have been honest disagreement about the results of continued inspections, and hence the wisdom of going to war over WMDs. But a far greater part, especially in the case of France was designed to spite the US, and interfere with America's projection of power abroad. A final factor of course was money- the spoils for France, and Russia and Germany from the oil for food scandal, the largest financial scandal in the world's history, but reported in this country almost entirely on just one channel (FNC), and in one newspaper - the Wall Street Journal.

The Surge

Sending 20,000 additional troops to Baghdad will not win the war. It is a prescription for curing the symptom rather than the illness. It is a temporary fix. Bush's goal is simple - Sufficiently reduce the violence in Baghdad to create a perception of victory. This will allow him to gain the political capital to make his next move.

The real illness is Iran and Syria. We are really fighting a proxy war against Iran and Syria. Iraq is merely the battleground for that war. Bush has never spoken about this directly to the American people. There are enough evidence to prove this, but the media is keeping quiet about it. If Congress knows, they are not saying anything about it. Bush is in his last two years in office. He has stood his ground all these years. He should make one last stand. Show the evidence to Congress and the American people that Iran and Syria are waging war against us and declare war against Iran and Syria.

Otherwise, our only hope of winning this war is for a Democratic Congress supporting a hawkish Democratic President.

Update: And a more thoughtful article


Update 2: Wretchard points out the same thing.

What Are They Thinking?

It never fails. When I watch politicians (ok, democrats) on a debate show, I invariable wonder if these guys really believe what they are saying. I see politicians taking a position that does not make sense when you look at the empirical evidence. Take tax increases for example. Historically, every time a U.S. president reduces the tax rate, tax revenue increases following an increase in GDP and productivity. Globally, industrialized countries with lower tax rates have lower unemployment rates. To take the position that we must raise taxes to support spending on some social program does not make sense.

The conclusion I come to is that democrats put self interest above country whether they are bought and paid for or just to position themselves for the next election. Although sometimes, there are others that just have no clue.

The Democrats Show Thier Backbone

The Democrats will hold a vote in the House and Senate to oppose President Bush's plan to add more troops in Iraq. The vote will do nothing in practical terms. The Dem's ran on the promise of retreating from Iraq. Now they are retreating from thier promise.

On second thought, maybe not. This seems to be typical of thier thinking

“If you really want to change the situation on the ground, demonstrate to the president he’s on his own,” said Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. “That will spark real change.”

The Dems must really believe that symbolic gestures will effect change. Lets try symbolic gestures on Iran, North Korea and the U.N.