Doug Henwood wrote:
> Seems to me to be one of those rare fissures in the ruling class,
> with the hardline right into bashing China while the mainstream wants
> to do business. It's going to be very interesting to see if the big
> boys can rein in the lunatics.
>
> Meanwhile, Richard Perle is turning up the Euro-bashing.
.
Rumsfeld and John Bolton, the new arms control czar, are also Euro-bashers.
These people believe the U.S. is perfectly capable of keeping developing
countries "open" and pliant without the assistance of the EU. On the other
side, the Clinton types believe, wisely I'd say, that the US will have a lot
less leverage with poor countries with the EU acting as an independent and
potentially adversarial force in world politics. NATO is the tool to keep
the EU on board; the right-wingers doubt its importance, the sensible types
don't.
Reading Wesley Clark's just-published memoirs of Kosovo, it was amazing to see how obsessed these people were, from day 1, to make sure NATO -- and no one else -- was the one to take "responsibility" for what happened in Kosovo.
Seth
> ----
>
> Financial Times - June 5, 2001
>
> NMD hawk to lead US defence advisory panel
> By Peter Spiegel in Washington
>
> An outspoken advocate of a US National Missile Defence system and
> harsh critic of European security policies is to lead a Pentagon
> advisory panel that could play a growing role in the Bush
> administration's foreign policy decision-making.
>
> Richard Perle, a top Pentagon official under former President Ronald
> Reagan, will be named head of the Defence Policy Board.
>
> In the past, the board - made up largely of private sector experts -
> has had limited influence on Defence Department policy.
>
> But Mr Perle (pictured above) has told associates its profile will be
> raised and it will have regular contact with Donald Rumsfeld, US
> defence secretary and a Perle ally.
>
> The appointment emerged as Mr Rumsfeld began a week-long European
> tour that includes a meeting with Nato defence ministers on Thursday
> and Friday, where the National Missile Defence (NMD) programme is
> expected to be a key issue.
>
> Mr Rumsfeld was prepared to raise NMD "as part of a larger discussion
> about the way the administration sees the international environment
> growing", a senior defence official said.
>
> Mr Rumsfeld was in Turkey on Monday, where he warned that Chinese and
> other foreign aid to Iraq was helping to improve Saddam Hussein's air
> defences, raising the risk that US and British planes enforcing a
> northern no-fly zone will be shot down.
>
> Mr Perle, a fellow of right-wing think tank the American Enterprise
> Institute and adviser to the Bush election campaign, has been one of
> the most ardent critics of European opposition to NMD, arguing that
> Nato allies should have little input into domestic national security
> decisions.
>
> "If the Europeans asked us not to defend ourselves, while asking us
> to defend them, [that] simply is unsustainable," Mr Perle said last
> month at a conference on Nato. "We are going to proceed with the
> missile defence and either they can join us in that endeavour or they
> can sit on the sidelines and complain about it."
>
> He has also criticised the stance of Tony Blair, British prime
> minister, on the defence shield, saying Mr Blair's wait-and-see
> attitude was "wishy-washy" and "dodging the issue".
>
> Mr Perle has advocated a shift in the US's role in Nato, indicating
> he supported some American disengagement, particularly if Europeans
> proceeded with their own defence force independent of Nato.
>
> "The sense of liberation [in Europe] because they no longer need us
> is a two-way street," he said last month. "We no longer need them in
> the way that we once did. They are no longer vital to the defence of
> our interests in the world."
>
> He has reserved particular criticism for France, which he said was
> less important to US security now that there was no threat from the
> east.
>
> "Maybe it's time for us to stop indulging the French," he said. "My
> solution to Nato enlargement is - by all means let's bring in some
> new members, and if we lose some old ones, I've got a candidate."
>