Stardate 20020209.0622

(On Screen): Chris Patten, the EU commissioner for external affairs, has given an interview to The Guardian in which he harshly criticizes the Bush administration. It is, ultimately, yet another European plea to "Stop ignoring us!"

He echoes many of the same arguments made by French Prime Minister Jospin a couple of days ago, and the answers are largely the same, so I won't rehash them. Because it's the Guardian, it is being reported in as pugnaciously anti-American a slant as it possibly can be. Nonetheless, this isn't going to pass un-noticed in Washington.

The response in America is not going to be what Patten (and Jospin) hopes. What they're hoping is that the US will come to its senses, back down, and humbly start asking European permission again before embarking on any operation. What is rather going to happen is that American voters and politicians are going to start asking whether we really want friends like these.

Which means that this is the death-knell for NATO.