One Brief Blog-Like Commentary
Sep. 8th, 2003 09:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldFrom Yahoo!News:
Observation: Britain and France are two European countries of roughly comparable power. Each has a 1.5 trillion dollar economy and high GDP per capitas. Each has a military force capable of global military deployments, with help. Each has nuclear weapons, and advanced military inustries. (France is home to the Airbus Consortium, unlike Britain, it has its own military aerospace industry, and the French-designed Ariane series of rockets is used by the ESA and dominates commercial space launches; but then, Britain has a somewhat stronger financial sector and a military not burdened by the transition away from conscription.)
Question: If the Dubya administration thinks that France is an insignificant power, what does it really think about Britain?
Supposition: Guess.
The United States sneered at plans by four European countries to create an autonomous European military command headquarters near Brussels separate from NATO (news - web sites), referring to the idea's proponents as "chocolate makers."
In unusually blunt language that drew surprised gasps from reporters, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher scoffed at Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg for continuing to support the proposal that they first introduced at a mini-summit in April.
He described the April meeting as one between "four countries that got together and had a little bitty summit" and then referred to them collectively as "the chocolate makers."
Observation: Britain and France are two European countries of roughly comparable power. Each has a 1.5 trillion dollar economy and high GDP per capitas. Each has a military force capable of global military deployments, with help. Each has nuclear weapons, and advanced military inustries. (France is home to the Airbus Consortium, unlike Britain, it has its own military aerospace industry, and the French-designed Ariane series of rockets is used by the ESA and dominates commercial space launches; but then, Britain has a somewhat stronger financial sector and a military not burdened by the transition away from conscription.)
Question: If the Dubya administration thinks that France is an insignificant power, what does it really think about Britain?
Supposition: Guess.
