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The State of NATO
We have heard about the grandmothers in places like England and Germany jailed for their politically incorrect tweets. The rape victims serving more time than their rapists in England for insulting their rapists online. One disparaged her rapist’s diminutive organ. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s justice system sprang to the defense of the rapist’s offended honor with zeal. And, of course, the head of the London police has promised to reach out to punish speech criminals anywhere in the world, including the United States. When J.D. Vance called out the Europeans on this conduct to their faces, they denied it. And he listed the offenses that they never hear, because those who would tell them are in jail.
Today, there is a new story. From Peter Sweden on X:
It was reported recently that while the nullification of the first round was staged as the decision of a non-judicial Romanian election board, the order came from the EU in Brussels. This is what the EU stands for. In this new age, Europe is the sick man of Europe. Indeed, this is what Biden and his USAID stood for, both in Europe and in the political lawfare conducted against their political opponents in New York, Georgia, and elsewhere.
The defense has been raised that the American First Amendment is the American First Amendment, not applicable beyond our boundaries. The truth is that the realities of globalism have brought us to a decision point. The US Bill of Rights recognizes the unalienable rights of all people, and any country, foreign or domestic, that infringes on those rights is to that degree illegitimate. They are infringing on the humanity of their own citizens. As Americans, we lack the sovereignty to impose legitimacy. We do have an obligation to our neighbors to clearly articulate their degradation and encourage them in their rectification. There are rights that accrue to governments as well. But are these governments our fathers and husbands and sons should be taking up arms to protect?
In the logic of globalism (small-g), the tendency is for standards and practices to tend toward uniformity. Erosion of rough edges is a natural development, we all want easier lives. The EU has “voted” for censorship, and the ignorance it imposes on the governed and the government. Some in Vance’s audience likely had never noticed those instances he provided, or that they had fallen comfortably into crushing citizen voices instead of defending political positions.
American Vice President J.D. Vance has put the point to the other “democracies”. So far they have responded by ignoring the speech or doubling down on the policies. I think we should give them time to reconsider, and if in time events do not develop in the direction of restoring their citizens’ human rights, the United States should reduce our ties to these political thugs.
Published in Foreign Policy
I wonder how we could effectively demonstrate our judgment of their actions or lack thereof, that they would care about?
The more frequently the Europeans conduct themselves like narcissistic oligarchs, the more likely Americans are to accept Trump’s critique of our NATO allies.
It amazing how much easier this election rigging is when you can select your opponent…
Just ask Hillary Clinton.
I love this powerful sentence.
I once thought the origin of “Europa” was something along the lines of “good place” based on the first letters. Now I understand it may have a Phoenician origin meaning “where the sun sets.” The sun is indeed setting on Europe.
Democracy has been a messy thing from the beginning, so much so that our Founders refrained from using the term to describe the government it developed to both represent and safeguard its people. It is messy because it necessitates the involvement of people, all people. This is the thing the political class of Europe–and several politicians of America–grows weary of. Why can’t the governed just be governed (by their betters) and shut up? How many times have we heard the United States is “ungovernable”?
We’re in the process of rediscovering our commitment to maintaining the Republic as it was intended. Things are less clear in Europe, though trends seem to be headed the same way. VP Vance’s speech was the right move, I think, to both support these movements and serve notice to the EU, its member governments, and the UK that their recent policy tendencies may not be compatible with our ideals and interests.
I would give these movements a chance to mature, and continue calling out the governments. The UK, for one, can have no complaint as Labor sent operatives to help with the Harris campaign.
As for Romania, democracy is messy and votes are votes. In denying Georgescu (warts and all) a chance they establish the worse sort of precedent, and possibly one that will be the undoing of the EU.
I think JD made a fine start. I have seen Rubio press the point before and since. A dramatic movie on the story of figures like Tommy Robinson, currently held under J6 prisoner-like conditions so harsh that a psychologist connected with the prison system has published a video on X outlining the abuses and citing legislative and regulatory infractions. I can’t imagine “Hollywood” doing anything so decent, but it has never been easier or easier to produce quality films. Obviously, it cannot be produced in Starmer’s UK, or the EU for that matter.
Or I could take over the production of Doctor Who, a long overdo development for which I have no significant qualifications but I have many glorious ideas.
More practically, while there is a brutal lawfare campaign going on against X out of the EU, UK, Canada, Brazil, and the rest to establish a draconian censorship regime a la the Twitter days, because Musk is the most important free speech advocate since Jefferson. The blazing hot bed of UK resistance to political free speech that I have found so far is Tommy Robinson‘s own account. The pinned post is Robinson’s documentary that the UK has imprisoned him for under a civil charge and kept him in solitary for nearing half a year without review. The account is being managed by an administrator on his behalf while he is detained.
I have been unfollowed from him somehow at least once that I’ve found. I’m not seeing that behavior anywhere else on X at the moment.
Reminding our Congresscritters of our sincere and passionate interest in this issue, at home and abroad, can help.
They are firmly in opposition to all things Trump. They have spent weeks trying to browbeat him on Ukraine, confident that his soft marmalade peasant brain can be lured from principle if just the right argument is presented. They hate Trump, the interfered to prevent his election, and failed spectacularly. (UK Labor Party members of Parliament volunteering to work on Harris’ campaign was such a horrible look from American eyes, perfectly natural to Globalist eyes.) The fact that they have to deal with him at all is abhorrent to them. They consider themselves eternally entitled to a position as client beneath the military protection of the global superpower. They need to get off of mom’s couch, find a job, rent a place, stand up on their hind legs and embrace their own nations instead of oppressing them.
There are benefits to the USA of avoiding Russian control of European industries. If Russia controlled Europe, it would also have an inside track on controlling Africa and the middle east.
It’s all about the greenbacks.
The Europeans have enfeebled themselves as clients in the comfort of their super power hegemon. If they are too feeble to resist a Russia the UK press has pronounced to be “on the verge of collapse”, then they should adjust their useless and self indulgent politics to the threats domestic and foreign that they have been deaf to. These witless propagandists are blowing wholly contradictory points into the ether without the slightest sense of shame. They are the unfiltered talking point stooges that organizations like USAID have created around the world, including here.
Yes, and certainly this.
I haven’t yet read any posts here on Ricochet that advocate for Russia controlling European industries. Did I miss something? I certainly would be against Russia controlling anything in Europe. The fact that Europe refuses to produce its energy lately does not help their situation. Somehow they believe that buying fossil fuels elsewhere rather than producing their own eliminates their so-called carbon footprint. How do you help someone that refuses to help themselves?
Just pointing out the purpose of NATO.
It’s the same thing with EV enthusiasts. Especially as long as the cobalt, lithium, etc are produced by child/slave labor in other countries.
Everyone knows that rights don’t count, when the magic word “Putin” is said.
We need to be very cautious. The current crop of globalists cut their teeth espousing this:
The US Bill of Rights recognizes the unalienable rights of all people, and any country, foreign or domestic, that infringes those rights is to that degree illegitimate. They are infringing on the humanity of their own citizens.
I don’t care if the Romanian regime is democratic or not. I care if it supports the US and is beneficial in defending us from our enemies … Russia, China Iran and their proxies. The first goal of NATO is deterrence. And that deterrence depends on our adversaries believing it’s a credible military force.
The reality is more complicated than Romania simply banning a candidate. There is some (but not conclusive IMHO) evidence that Russia spread massive disinformation on behalf of the pro-Russian candidate Georgescu on social media and funded his campaign, there was a Russian hacking campaign, and that TikTok funded a campaign on behalf of Georgescu.
But the situation is murky, so it’s not 100% clear to me whether banning Georgescu is necessary to prevent Russia from taking control of Romania or if it is EU meddling against an nationalist candidate.
Also, your post seems to have more to do with the EU than with NATO.
NATO is the direct expression of our ties to Europe. Romania is in NATO. Discussing one without the other is introducing an obstructive dichotomy. If it is illegal to accept foreign contributions in Romania then that is a chargeable offense. As the facts stand at the moment, I support JD Vance’s position pending the transition from the innuendo phase to the investigated facts stage. If foreign influence in Romanian elections is illegal, how is Brussels’ command legal?
The fact is, the candidate is still polling high after (because?) the Globalists took their shot at an assassination by innuendo.
OK
Did the EU interfere, or is that rumor? I don’t know – I’m just asking.
Also,
Brussels[Romania] is an EU member, so they have agreed to EU standards on elections, but they have not agreed to Russian interference (if there was any). So the EU might have a cause for involvement when Russia certainly would not.And while I’m definitely opposed to the Eurocratic style of government, it is certainly less damaging than the Russian type of murderous, aggressive dictatorship.
The Europeans have gone where the US Democrats want to go –permanent rule by the managerial class with no accountability–probably a lot like what Gorbachev had in mind for the USSR before it went belly up.
People can be fired, fined, deplatformed or jailed for saying what Vance said. Muslim jihadis on welfare are not seen as a threat to elite rule but middle class normals who want to vote to restore common sense and legitimate national interests are deemed a mortal threat.
The kabuki of supporting Ukraine while being terrified of Putin cutting off access to energy, pretending to be a military power, delusional green policies, suicidal immigration policy, an entire lightweight mindset that wants to continue to pretend it is the epitome of rational ethical thought… The it collapses, the better.
I believe that the EU interference is strongly rumored. It would be interesting if true. Was it done quietly for political or legal reasons? It follows a very familiar pattern seen in Leftist governments, now including our own. I’ll be satisfied when Vance is satisfied. The appearances are damning.
Sure, that could work. I know we certainly take it well when foreign officials tell us we are running our country all wrong and should be more like France or Denmark.
Yeah. I have siblings. It can be a tricky conversation.
This is one reason why I doubt I’ll ever visit Europe again. I’d hate to be having a private converstion with neutral observer, and some busybody overhears me and turns me over to the police for arrest on the grounds of “hate speech” . . .
My family includes connections to every war America has fought against Britain. We swarmed into America from an Ireland that had just seen Lord North’s brutal suppression to fall in for whatever bit of payback Col. Washington might partake in. So when a British intellectual goes on X and glibly denounces Americans who support Tommy Robinson as “not understanding Britain”, I hear the voice of generations ringing in my ears, “We understand all too well.” I also dallied with Chaucer to the extent permitted in my undergraduate days. Heinlein said specialization is for ants, and Chaucer wrote or translated every idiom and genre of his day. And he replies to Boccaccio’s sarcasm in works like the Decameron with the gentle jibes of a court poet in works like the Canterbury Tales. So I know that Lord North and the King’s redcoats are not the only voices in the British choir. And I remember well that the Colonial Troubles were about colonists who understood themselves to be Englishman with the rights and privileges pertaining thereto, while Lord North and his king imagined the colonists as a piggy bank apart from Parliament’s purse.
Which is a rather long way around to say that, even though a part of me would like to visit Canterbury and Westminster Abbey and maybe audit a class or two at Oxford, I am wary of stepping into the role of an Irish in the hands of Redcoats. I rarely let my Irish out in that way, but when the occasion has demanded I have stood up on my hind legs and let fly. But I much prefer to enjoy my peace.
Some days those Redcoats trample the garden and shoot the dogs and need addressing.
I hope the UK is drawn to their higher angels.
Dig that. We understand that Britain has invariably been plagued with a ruling class that does not want to hear the opinions of the wrong sorts–like those ungrateful colonists and their own middle and working classes.
George Washington’s kin used to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Alexandria, VA every year with revolutionary war veterans and the Irish community there. (I don’t recall if it was adopted son Jack or step grandson “Wash.”) Washington was said to have had a fondness for his Irish troops who were energetic and less likely to desert (Let me get this straight, you are going to give me a gun and ammunition and pay me to shoot redcoats?! Jazus, Where do I sign?!).
I never met any of those forebears of mine, but I vividly recognize the attitude. And I like to think that I have raised more of it.
That was a Heinlein character who just happened to be immortal. Easy for HIM to say!
Of course this begs an obvious question, “Would that be a feature, or a bug?”
Lots of resources in Africa and the middle east. Would be nice if they went to the highest bidder rather than being preemptively directed to Russia, China and Iran.