John Bolton - U.S. Ambassador to UN nominee

It is not crucial for us to get the approval of the Euros for anything. Never has been, never will be. But on a global scale, they are rich, influential, powerful countries. It is crucial that they remain allies and not become the allies of our enemies.

France and Germany do not rate the partnership the US has with Britain (unquestioned mutual support). But they are traditional NATO allies and democracies with free-market economies, religiously Christian, and hold the same western values that we embrace. In the long term, it is in Euro-American best interests to remain allied in the face of Islamic extremism. They will come around. The Euros are supporting us in backing down Syria because we are involving them and not alarming them by proposing another bliztkrieg. It is important to understand how Euros feel about war. Their countries suffered like nothing we have ever experienced in WWII. They don't march off to war lightly.

Russia is teetering between a democracy/free economy or returning to an authoritarian/socialist economy. We need to encourage them to embrace western values, not eastern ones. A US/China war is a real possibility in the next 10 years and we do not need Russia moving into the Chinese camp. With Russian cooperation, China could be sucessfully blockaded by us in wartime. Without it . . .

The US is The Superpower, but we are not invincible. Our NATO allies will always be minor players, but collectively they double our military and economic power in an international confrontation. And they want to be treated as partners, not as ass-kissing servants that need to be more respectful and do as they are told. For the US to lose this advantage from pomposity and neglect of our allies interests would be a disaster for America and a boon to our enemies. The current administration has done a poor job of managing our allies. But the atlantic alliance of western democracies will outlast this administration.

The Frogs, the Krauts, the Dagos, and the Slavs are funny people and annoy us from time to time, but they are our friends and allies, not our enemies. Our enemies in the next few decades will be Chinese, Korean, and Arab. We need the Euros on our side in the next few wars, not sitting them out. And certainly not throwing in with the enemy.

We don't need their approval for anything. We can always go it alone. But they have a right to sit one out if it isn't in their best interests, as we do to them all of the time. But in the long run, we have to throw them a few bones and treat them with some respect if we expect to get it back in return.

 

In nuclear weapons we have an overwhelming advantage, but British and French nuclear submarine missiles are not to be dismissed casually. Of course we have not had a nuclear war in 60 years.

But in conventional military capability, the NATO allies offer quite a bit of firepower, manpower, and technology. The US has an edge in quality, of course. US forces are better equipped, better educated, better trained, more experienced, and more capable. But in terms of quantity (always important in wars of attrition) the Euros do have large forces. In fact, collectively they have more troops, more tanks, and almost as many combat aircraft. Only in naval vessels do they come up short, but their naval forces are still formidable and in some cases, nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed.

These are powerful allies and they surely augment what we can do militarily. Europe could be a superpower itself if they could all get along. And they are moving in that direction with a common currency and economic union. It is important to us that a possible future pan-European superpower becomes a steadfast American ally, not a free agent.

 

Sure there is. You smile and shake their hands and tell them what steadfast froggy gentlemen they are. Lafayette, we are here!

Later, over Guinness in the pub with the Brits, you laugh and make fun of them.