Stardate 20010917.0529 (On Screen): It's time to fish or cut bait. Either Article 5 of the NATO charter has been invoked, or it has not been. Sounds like the Germans are having second thoughts, and that bothers me a lot. Germany's President Rau says that the response should be "measured". For the last twenty years NATO has been using "measured" responses to nearly everything, and in most cases the result has been disaster. It was only when the response ceased to be "measured" and started being
overwhelming that anything actually got accomplished. The best example of that is the bombing of Serbia. After the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Europe used "measured" responses and diplomatic pressure (Rau's other preferred tactic) and what we saw was ethnic cleansing, the slaughter in Bosnia and an extended civil war. Europe spent lots of time "calling for peace" and expressing how upset it was about it all -- and got ignored. Then we bombed, and suddenly everything stopped and peace set in.
We Americans have a word for President Rau's attitude: "gutlessness". There's a time for "measured responses" and there's a time to fight. Fortunately, if I understand the German political system, Rau isn't actually in charge of anything. The government is run by the Chancellor; President Rau's primary job is to supervise elections and orderly transitions of the government. (discussion in progress)
Update 20010919: Evidently President Rau really doesn't speak for the German government. Glad to see it.
