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A Tilting World
By
Bob Orrick
The war in Iraq has brought to the fore certain previously hidden things that for the Europeans might prove to be a tad worrisome. The world sat and watched as France and Germany blocked the USA's attempt to have the increasingly irrelevant United Nations approve yet another resolution that demanded that Saddam Hussein open his country wide to inspectors and to co-operate with them in showing once and for all whether or not Iraq has/had weapons of mass destruction [WMD]. The Americans aided by the UK and frustrated at the foot-dragging, set off on their own plan of action. Now, much of the world sits idly by on the sidelines and watches hourly reports of the progress of the War in Iraq.
What the world witnessed at the UN was a complete lack of leadership and a complete lack of responsibility on the part of country leaders. Front and centre among the namby-pamby fence sitters was Canada, a once-proud country that has been taken down a path of impotency by a lacklustre prime minister who leads from the rear as he daily watches the various opinion polls. In my book, such action bespeaks volumes and say, rather loudly, that Canada is being led to a slaughterhouse of irrelevancy.
The two long-established European countries, currently bosom buddies but in times past vicious enemies, acted in a manner that tended to suggest that they each had a hidden agenda. For both, it seems, they had and currently have a vested interest in Iraq. According to media reports, each has contributed in some manner to Iraq's arsenal of WMD. Russia, a sort of sly ally that appears to be more an opportunist than a staunch friend, aided them in this. The Cold War might be over but the evil that was common, daily fare in the former Soviet Union seems to linger in the present Russia. That country along with the two European soul mates has a lot of explaining to do to the world that continues to wonder how the Iraq conflict will play out. From my perspective, the USA and UK along with their allies [unfortunately, Canada is not among those allies but Australia is] will trounce Saddam Hussein; there is no doubt of the outcome. There are only two items in doubt on the agenda: the date of eventual Coalition victory and at what cost in lives on both sides of the equation.
The Europeans are a bit concerned that the centre of the universe - their version - is shifting away from the centuries-long thought that it was Europe. They see the globe tilting more and more toward North America in general and the United States in particular. What the Europeans see is not what they want to see. For them, the shift across the Atlantic Ocean is a slight on their individual and collective egos and they do not like it. Ergo, they block the American's plea for a resolution to rid the world of a despot along the lines of Hitler and Stalin.
One wonders about the French and German motives; other than benefiting financially from selling weapons and systems to Iraq as has been revealed, what might their motives be? The answer that one arrives at is, simply, they do not want to lose what they consider to be theirs by right of geography and history. In many respects, France and Germany, but especially France, live in a dream world of glory that has passed them by decades ago. It is time to move on to North America's greener pastures.
I am reminded of an apt saying that we used in the Canadian Navy: "The rot has set in." In this case, it would appear to be apropos.
Bob Orrick is a private tutor of English grammar, literature, poetry and Canadian history to off-shore youngsters. His pupils hail from such places as Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Venezuela. He was previously in international marketing, was a ministerial assistant to a provincial cabinet minister, spent a few years as a reporter then editor of a community newspaper and enjoyed a career in the Royal Canadian Navy.
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