C
CrazyCanuck
Guest
Afghanistan is NATO's first major combat mission and the attitude of some nations has been less than stellar. Now would this attitude be any different in any other combat mission? Probably not, the fact is that NATO is European centric and most of those Nation's have a difficult time selling a mission that is not in their own backyard. The reason for this is that because the people of Europe do not feel directly threatened by a conflict that is thousands of miles away as opposed to one that is happening in a nearby country. The vast majority of Europe only wants Afghanistan to be a blurb on the last page of their newspaper, they have no reason for it to be screaming out at them on their front page. Afghanistan and NATO are casualties of desensitization, nobody really gives a damn about a little war happening halfway around the world, and the less they have to do with it the better. Much of the major NATO countries have lived in relative peace for the last fifty years and would prefer not to have anything to do with war.
So here's the problem in a nutshell; war has become so unpalatable to the European public that it is pretty much political suicide to try and sell it. Due to this NATO has been pretty much detoothed, when an actually fight came along only a few countries were willing to step up to the plate, with the rest deciding to cheer from the sidelines. Well cheering from the sidelines is great in a hockey game but it is pretty much pointless in a war, these nations have proved that they are unreliable allies who are not politically capable of a combat mission.
Now i know that there will be those who will say that we are guilty of the same, and I am ready to agree with them; to a point. Firstly most occasions when we have placed caveats on our troops has been during peacekeeping missions, not during combat roles. We actually have a rather decent record when it comes to the combat roles, such as the current mission and our bombings over Kosovo. Secondly war or a combat action is not as unpalatable here than in Europe. Sure the polls say that the country is divided by this mission but there appears to be more seats occupied by the NDP than there have been war protests or even protesters for that matter. And the NDP the only national party that openly opposes the war has actually seen a drop in support while if this war were as unpalatable as some say that support should be on the rise.
So here's the question that I'm going to put forward; has NATO become a paper tiger? and if so is it time for something new?
So here's the problem in a nutshell; war has become so unpalatable to the European public that it is pretty much political suicide to try and sell it. Due to this NATO has been pretty much detoothed, when an actually fight came along only a few countries were willing to step up to the plate, with the rest deciding to cheer from the sidelines. Well cheering from the sidelines is great in a hockey game but it is pretty much pointless in a war, these nations have proved that they are unreliable allies who are not politically capable of a combat mission.
Now i know that there will be those who will say that we are guilty of the same, and I am ready to agree with them; to a point. Firstly most occasions when we have placed caveats on our troops has been during peacekeeping missions, not during combat roles. We actually have a rather decent record when it comes to the combat roles, such as the current mission and our bombings over Kosovo. Secondly war or a combat action is not as unpalatable here than in Europe. Sure the polls say that the country is divided by this mission but there appears to be more seats occupied by the NDP than there have been war protests or even protesters for that matter. And the NDP the only national party that openly opposes the war has actually seen a drop in support while if this war were as unpalatable as some say that support should be on the rise.
So here's the question that I'm going to put forward; has NATO become a paper tiger? and if so is it time for something new?
For God's sake, stop hijacking this thread, stop smelling the glue and get yourself down to rehab pronto!
