U.S. President George W. Bush delivered aphilippic last week at the NATO summit in Prague, comparing SaddamHussein to Adolf Hitler and calling on America's allies to join hiscrusade against Iraq.
Who says history doesn't repeat itself?
Flashback to 480 BC. Ultimatum from Persia toAthens: "Emperor Xerxes orders you to surrender your weapons andbecome an ally."
Message from Xerxes to his satraps - subordinaterulers within the mighty Persian Empire:
"I intend to ... march against Greece, and therebygain vengeance on the Athenians who have wronged Persia and dared toinjure me and my father!"
Ten years earlier, Xerxes' father, Darius, hadattacked Athens but failed to crush the defiant little state. NowXerxes was summoning his satraps to finish the job, warning thatAthens was a threat to the entire civilized world.
Flash forward 2,482 years to Prague. Bush'scartoon characterization of Saddam Hussein as a second Hitler playswell in unworldly Peoria and the U.S. Bible Belt, but it producedderision or dismay among sophisticated continental Europeans, many ofwhom regard the sabre-rattling, imperial-minded Bush administrationas more alarming than Iraq or Osama bin Laden.
Undaunted by such concerns, President Bush forgedahead with plans, first presented last September, to press NATO todeploy a 20,000-man rapid reaction force composed of European,Turkish, and Canadian troops whose prime mission would be to attack"rogue states, Islamic militants, and any other violators of the 'PaxAmericana.'"
Subordinate 'allies' Washington is demanding itssubordinate "allies" contribute troops whenever it so orders, justlike Darius, Xerxes, and every feudal system and empire in history.
The British, ever the moon to America's sun, andthe seven small former Soviet-ruled East European states just invitedto join NATO, eagerly volunteered token troop contributions, but therest of Europe was deeply troubled by the prospect of what the lateWest German defence minister Franz Josef Strauss aptly called"playing foot soldier to America's atomic knights."
After half a century of being an obedient juniorpartner to the U.S. (France excepted), a now united Europe is timidlyasserting its independence, the most recent example being Germany'srefusal to obey Bush's "ukase" to join his anti-Iraq jihad.
The European Union is struggling to form a50,000-man European intervention force that America clearly sees as arival to its own plan for a U.S.-directed Euro "rogue state" SWATteam. Europe's reaction force is designed for peacekeeping; the Bushadministration wants its Euro-force to fight America's enemies.
The White House pushed hard for admission to NATOof militarily feeble Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia. Thiswas primarily because the U.S. needs their air bases as refuellingand logistical waypoints on an air bridge that extends from NorthAmerica to new, permanent U.S. bases in the Mideast and Afghanistan.
These economically weak nations are quicklybecoming U.S. dependencies, replacing increasingly "undependable"European allies like France and Germany. Even so, few noticed thatthe admission of these four states, plus Lithuania, Latvia andEstonia, would likely weaken instead of strengthening NATO bydraining rather than adding to its military resources, and making itsleast capable members vulnerable to an inevitably resurgent Russia.As Frederick the Great observed, "He who defends everything, defendsnothing."
Equally interesting was the dog that didn't bark:Russia. After Prague, Bush hurried off to see "my friend VladimirPutin" to assure him that a western military alliance smack onRussia's western border and St. Petersburg was no threat at all, butsomehow a benefit.
The reason the Russian dog didn't bark wastwofold: Russia's military remains weak and absorbed by the bloodywar in Chechnya; Putin and his supporters are heavily dependent ondiscreet U.S. funding to maintain their power and keep theircash-strapped government running.
At their meeting, the two leaders also likelyfinalized plans for Iraq: Putin would not stand in the way of anAmerican invasion in exchange for Russian oil firms retaining theirlarge drilling concessions in northern Iraq, and an honorarium fromUncle Sam of at least US $12 billion.
Flashback to 480 BC.
Xerxes: "At last I have found a way whereby we mayat once win glory, get possession of a rich land and obtainsatisfaction and revenge."
Epilogue: To everyone's surprise, the irksomeGreeks ("Grecians" to George W. Bush) won.
Eric can be reached by e-mail atmargolis@foreigncorrespondent.com.
Letters to the editor should be sent toeditor@sunpub.com or visit his home page.
Copyright 2002 Toronto Sun, November 24,2002