Talking Down The NATO Summit

Take some European pacifism, add some aversion to the concept of national defense; stir well.

Now add some BDS . . . .

Europe Waits Out the Bush Administration
[....]

'Foundation of the Alliance'

Beginning this Wednesday, leaders of NATO states will meet in the Romanian capital Bucharest, where they will air differences that, in the assessment of the Berlin-based German Institute for International and Security Affairs, have long torn at the very "foundation of the alliance."

The agenda includes Afghanistan, a perpetual bone of contention, the expansion of the alliance eastward and the controversial plans for an American missile defense system. NATO is deeply divided on most issues. It appears former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was right after all, when he divided the continent into an "old" Western and a "new" Eastern Europe.

The Eastern Europeans valiantly defend American positions, while Western allies have long since written off US President George W. Bush, for whom the Bucharest NATO summit will be his last. "The Europeans are in a wait-and-see mood," says Stephen Larrabee of the Rand Corporation, an influential American think tank. "They want to wait out the Bush administration."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, of all people, stands at the head of those seeking to slow down NATO's plans. If Bush has his way, the alliance will be expanded to include more than just Croatia, Albania and Macedonia. A "membership action plan" has even been put in place to facilitate rapid entry into the alliance for Ukraine and Georgia.

Another Sensitive Project

Secretary General Scheffer and the Eastern Europeans support the plan, which has encountered bitter resistance in Moscow. "No Russian president can ever accept the NATO membership of Ukraine," says current President Vladimir Putin. Merkel supports his position, although for different official reasons.

As in not wanting to offend Vladimir Paranoid, Angie?

"Many Western European partners agree completely," said German defense expert and Green Party member Alexander Bonde after a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels. Bonde is convinced that they are hiding behind the Germans and are "confident that Ms. Merkel will remain resolute."

The Germans are also expected to try to delay another sensitive project: the Americans' controversial missile defense plan. Berlin diplomats have stated that the summit will "generally" support the Bush project to station 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar facility in the Czech Republic, the goal being to defend against Iranian missiles, if need be. But at Berlin's urging the triumphant announcements Washington wants will not happen.

So, other than fearing Putie, why are the Heinies lukewarm to the idea?

Because the American missiles cannot protect Europe completely, the United States wants to develop a second missile defense system -- at its partners' expense. This system would protect Turkey and Norway to the north against a nuclear threat from Iran, but it would also cost enormous sums of money. Experts estimate that it would require an increase in the German defense budget of at least €1 billion ($1.58 billion), leading to a total of more than €30 billion ($47.4 billion). Officials at the Chancellery say that this would not be politically feasible, prompting Berlin to postpone a decision on the second system.

And avoid 'offending' Vladimir Paranoid.

'German Combat Battalion in Kandahar'

These delaying tactics reflect the hope that a new US administration under Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton would not support the costly missile defense system as adamantly as Republican President Bush.

Given the Bolshevik Revolution within the New Democrat party, neither Obama nor Hillary will be the next White House occupant.

But even a new US president will not make things easier for Germany in Afghanistan. One thing that Bush and all of his potential successors have in common is the call for more German troops. They agree that what Obama calls the "dirty work" in the embattled south and east should no longer be left entirely to the Americans, Canadians, British and Dutch.

"The Americans," says a member of the staff of German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung, a Christian Democrat, "are still dreaming of a German combat battalion in Kandahar." Scheffer, who shares their dreams, wants the remaining Europeans to deploy troops to the combat zones "in solidarity." According to Scheffer, there can be "no division of labor in which some specialize in fighting while others handle the cleanup work."

This is another area where Merkel is applying the brakes. She repeatedly insists that she is opposed to a "contest of dangerousness," and that Germany will stick to its deployment in the quieter north, even though, as she adds, "isolated assistance" elsewhere, "when friends are in need," is a matter of course.

The north can also be dangerous, as the German military, the Bundeswehr, experienced only last week near Kunduz. Three soldiers were injured, two seriously, when the force from the explosion of a Taliban explosive device swept their "Dingo" armored vehicle off the road.

The French Show

In response to pressure from the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), government experts' deliberations on whether to significantly expand Germany's Afghanistan mandate have been placed on ice for the time being. The Bavaria-based sister party to Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) is anxious not to enter into such a politically risky proposition before its state parliamentary elections in September. Even Bush understands the domestic political pressures faced by the Merkel administration, a relieved German diplomat reported from Washington. "We will not be pilloried in Bucharest," the diplomat said.

By contrast, French President Nicolas Sarkozy now plans to make a show of France's efforts in Afghanistan. Paris diplomats in Brussels have announced that the president wants to send 1,000 regular troops and 200 members of the special forces to support the US in the east and Canada in the south. There are currently about 1,500 French soldiers in Afghanistan, most of them stationed in relatively calm Kabul.

NATO will finalize two documents on Afghanistan in Bucharest. One is meant for the public and describes in general, superficial terms the goal of "self-supporting stability." The other document, a "political and military plan of action," is to remain confidential.

The secret document is based on ideas that Defense Minister Jung presented to his counterparts last fall "as part of an exit strategy." Jung spoke at length about "networked security" and reconstruction, while the "fight against the insurgents" was generally mentioned as an aside. The US's priorities, so far, have been precisely the reverse.

Precarious Situation

The secret compromise document now contains a graduated plan intended to enable NATO to eventually pull out its troops. The document specifies dates by which Kabul is to satisfy certain requirements for drug enforcement and the development of a justice system, and which regions NATO could gradually turn over to Afghan forces.

But neither the Germans nor the Americans and British are interested in setting too specific a timetable. Berlin fears that this would force it to enlarge its NATO contingent and send additional war material, like helicopters, to Afghanistan. The Americans, British and Canadians are hesitant to announce a fixed withdrawal date. Because of the precarious situation in the east and south, they would probably be the last to bring their soldiers home.

If one thing is certain, it is that the NATO Secretary General's dream of transforming the 2009 anniversary summit into a conflict-free, visionary and harmonious meeting will not come true.

The Americans would have preferred to celebrate in Berlin, but Sarkozy wants to celebrate his country's return to the military structures of NATO, from which the French armed forces removed themselves in 1966 at the behest of President Charles de Gaulle.

The anniversary summit, which is now to be held in Strasbourg and its smaller German neighbor across the Rhine River, Kehl, is unlikely to last very long in the first place. French diplomats recently insisted that the Bucharest meeting, initially planned for three full days, be shortened to no more than 48 hours. President Sarkozy's "capacity," astonished NATO diplomats were told, is "limited to two days."

Never misunderestimate a Fwenchman's delusions of grandeur.

Via Spiegel International

Czechs Thumb Their Noses At Putie -- Again

Talks on U.S. radar completed
Czech and U.S. representatives have completed the talks on the planned U.S. radar base on Czech soil that were launched a year ago, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek (Civic Democrats, ODS) said in an interview for today's issue of the daily Hospodarske noviny (HN).

Topolánek said only the venue where the treaty would be signed must yet be agreed on.

"I have information that the major problems might have been solved in the main treaty. Nothing prevents us from potentially declaring at the NATO summit in Bucharest the possibility to sign it," Topolánek told HN.

He added that the last "three words" that were not clear during his February visit to Washington have already been agreed on.

The U.S. radar base is to be located at the Brdy military district, some 90 km southwest of Prague. The radar and a planned base for ten interceptor missiles in Poland are to be elements of the U.S. missile defence shield that is to protect the United States and a large part of Europe against missiles that states like Iran might launch.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg (for Greens) told public Czech Television (CT) on Sunday that agreement has not yet been reached on one article concerning the environment in the treaty.

The Czech and U.S. delegations should go to the April NATO summit in Bucharest with agreed conditions on the radar base re-location to the Czech Republic to be able to negotiate NATO's support for the missile defence shield, HN writes.

It says such support is primarily significant for the Czech government to persuade the radar opponents in the country where the left-wing opposition as well as some 70 percent of the public are against the project.

The junior ruling Greens condition their nodding to the radar exactly by NATO's support .

Topolánek said he is sure that NATO would support the project in the summit's final resolutions.

"The discussion is only about the verb - we expect, welcome. Everything else is concealed in the NATO analyses. No one doubts that this system is necessary," Topolanek told HN.

Schwarzenberg said on Sunday the bilateral treaties on the stationing of a U.S. missile defence base in the Czech Republic might be signed in early May.

Topolánek stressed in HN that the second bilateral treaty to create a legal framework for the stay of U.S. soldiers in the Czech Republic must yet be tuned up.

Heh. The diplomacy of Vladimir Paranoid appears to be failing.

In Contrast To The UK . . . .

Czech petrol price lower, diesel oil grows in previous week

Petrol prices on the Czech market decreased slightly in the past week, while the average price of diesel oil was 30 hellers (US$0.018) higher than a week earlier, the Czech Statistical Office (CSU) said today.

Drivers paid an average Kc31.39 (US$1.91) for a litre of diesel oil on Monday, March 17, compared with Kc31.09 (US$1.89) a litre a week earlier. The top-selling petrol Natural 95 cost Kc30.77 (US$1.87) a litre on average, down three hellers against the previous week.

The unleaded petrol Special 91 with an additive dipped by five hellers (US$0.003) to Kc30.22 (US$1.87) a litre, while the average price of LPG rose by two hellers to Kc16.02 (US$0.97)/l.

A similar development was recorded by the company CCS that also monitors fuel prices on a regular basis. CCS said a litre of Natural 95 was eight hellers cheaper at Kc30.50 (US$1.85), while the average price of diesel oil increased by 20 hellers (US$0.01) to Kc30.96 (US$1.88).

Analysts say diesel oil prices will probably continue to grow in the days to come; petrol prices should rather be stagnant.

The increase in diesel oil price is caused largely by the sharp price growth on the Rotterdam bourse, Colosseum analyst Petr Cermak said. The steadily firming Czech crown currency, which to a certain extent absorbs the rising prices of commodities, will not prevent diesel oil prices from growing, he said, adding that diesel will cost dozens of hellers more in a fortnight.

Having eyes like a kestrel, I cruised al-Gore's invention looking for a Leftisphere-type boogeyman to blame this on.

Surprise, surprise, surprise! In no time at all, I struck gold.

Via FinanČíNinoviny.cz

Previously: And Not Even A Kiss

Also at A Tangled Web


Photo courtesy European Commission

Polish Uprising

Someone's going to be unhappy. Very unhappy.

Poland shapes defense accord
'Harmonized agenda' between Poles and Czechs is essential

The diplomatic negotiations around the planned U.S. missile-defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic may have reached a new level, with the United States and Poland coming to an “agreement in principle” on the countries’ missile-defense strategy Feb. 1. The progress was made during a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Polish Foreign Affairs Minister Radoslaw Sikorski in Washington, D.C.

Poland agreed to the installation of U.S. missile interceptors on its territory after Washington agreed to bloster the country’s air defenses.

“I think there is a very good case for the proposal that Poland and the United States and, indeed, the Czech Republic, go forward to put together an architecture for missile defenses,” Rice said in a U.S. State Department statement.

While calling the verbal agreement a step forward in the countries’ relations, Sikorski emphasized that the negotiations were still ongoing and that a final decision would only be reached after Polish President Donald Tusk’s planned visit to Washington in March, a time frame in keeping with the Czech government’s plans to reach its own agreement with the United States by early spring.

“It’s important for us to reach an agreement that benefits us as much as possible,” said Czech government radar spokesman Tomáš Klvana.

Although he declined to disclose details of these negotiations or comment on Poland’s diplomatic strategy, Klvana stressed that a harmonized agenda between Poland and the Czech Republic is essential for the missile-defense shield’s successful implementation.

“Of course, the [missile interceptors] in Poland would not work without a radar base[here], so we’re keeping a close watch on the dealings of our friends in Poland, but we cannot comment on their actions,” he said.

The Feb. 1 meeting between Poland and the United States roused an angry response from Russia, which maintains the missile shield is directed against it — a claim repeatedly dismissed by the United States.

Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the international affairs committee of Russia’s lower house, told Reuters Feb. 4. that if Poland and the Czech Republic agree to the United States’ requests, they’ll be at risk, “because the relevant U.S. systems will become a subject of control, and possibly, in the worst case, a target for Russian defense systems.”

Chasing shadows in Kremlin hallways, looking for potential assassins, Vladimir Paranoid was unavaliable for comment.

Via The Prague Post

And The 2008 Nobel Peace Prize Goes To . . . .

This comes as no great surprise and we can expect more like it from Soviet dictator Russian president Vladimir Paranoid and his ilk. And it shouldn't be long before the Koslings and the Leftisphere jump onboard.

Russia Issues Nuclear Threat
Russia's nuclear weapons chief threatened Monday to target a planned US missile defence shield in central Europe if Washington fails to take into account Moscow's worries, the Interfax news agency reported.

General Nikolai Solovtsov, head of strategic missile forces, said that such a decision could be taken if the US shield is seen to "undermine the Russian nuclear deterrent capability."

In that case, "I do not exclude... the missile defence shield sites in Poland and the Czech Republic being chosen as targets for some of our intercontinental ballistic missiles," Solovtsov said, according to Interfax.

Washington says the plans to install radar in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor rockets in Poland would guard against theoretical missile strikes from "rogue" nations such as Iran, without denting Russia's massive nuclear offensive arsenal.

But Moscow claims the United States is exaggerating the threat from Iran and describes the shield as the thin end of a wedge aimed at changing the current balance of military power.

On Saturday, the Russian chief of staff, General Yury Baluyevsky, warned that the launch of US interceptor missiles could accidentally trigger a Russian retaliatory strike.

And the resulting vaporization of Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad would be considered an 'accidental' response.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk denounced the comments as "unacceptable" and said that "no declaration of this kind will influence Polish-American negotiations."

Solovtsov, speaking hours after state television showed images of a ballistic missile being test fired from a submerged submarine at a target on the other side of Russia, said the United States was untrustworthy.

"If the Americans signed a treaty with us that they would only deploy 10 anti-missile rockets in Poland and one radar in the Czech Republic and will never put anything else there, then we could deal with this," he said.

"However they won't sign, they just tell us verbally, 'We won't threaten you'."

"They already cheated Russia once," he said, referring to NATO expansion into former Soviet-dominated territory after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. "Verbally they already told us that when we re-unite Germany there won't be one NATO soldier there. Now where are they?"

East-West relations are increasingly strained as Russia and NATO countries argue over how to ensure security in the post-Cold War landscape.

Russia froze compliance last week with the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, which imposes strict limits on deployment of troops around the country.

The Foreign Ministry offered reassurance that Russia had "no current plans to accumulate massive armaments on our neighbours' borders."

However the decision was criticised by NATO, the United States and other Western powers.

Kameraden! Nobody forced your former slave-states to join or ally with NATO. They did so out of appreciation for your 50 years of kindness and generosity.

And in remembrance of your reassurances from 1943 on that the Soviet army had simply . . . liberated them.

Via Spacewars.com

H/T The NoisyRoom

Also at A Tangled Web

Calling On All Good Danes (And Other Folks, Too)

Denmark to Hold New Referendum on Euro

Denmark will hold a referendum on whether to adopt the euro and drop exemptions to closer cooperation with the EU on defense and law enforcement, the prime minister said Thursday.

Danish voters rejected the European common currency in a 2000 referendum. The Scandinavian country has also opted out of other key areas of EU cooperation.

Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at a news conference it was time to reassess those exemptions, which Denmark was granted in the early 1990s.

"A lot has changed since," he said. "It is the right time to take a decision."

No date was set for a vote but it would be held during the next four years, said the prime minister, whose center-right government was re-elected last week.

It was not immediately clear whether there would be a separate vote for each of the exemptions.

Danes stunned fellow EU nations in 1992 by rejecting the Maastricht treaty on closer European cooperation.

A year later, Danish voters approved a revised treaty with clauses letting the Scandinavian country stay outside a single currency and banking system and refrain from joining a European defense structure or conform to EU citizenship laws and common law enforcement.

"We have always said that the Danish exemptions are a hindrance for Denmark," said Fogh Rasmussen, Denmark's prime minister since 2001.

He said the referendum would be held after Denmark had ratified the new EU reform treaty, which includes changes in decision-making rules designed to make the union function more effectively. The treaty replaces the failed EU constitution, which was rejected two years ago.

Fogh Rasmussen's Liberal-Conservative coalition won the Nov. 13 snap election with support from its nationalist ally, the Danish People's Party, and a smaller centrist group.

Denmark, a country of 5.4 million people, has held five referendums on EU-related issues since it joined the bloc in 1973.

In the latest one, on Sept. 28, 2000, Danes voted 53.1 percent to 46.9 percent against replacing the Danish krone with the euro. Recent opinion polls have shown a narrow majority of Danes now favor switching to the euro.

Via the AP

It appears that Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen is afflicted with a serious case of -isms. To better understand that from which Rasmussen and many Old Europe politicians suffer, clarity is found in New Europe, as demonstrated by President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic.

[...]
Ten-fifteen years ago I spoke many times in this country about this process of transition, about its non-zero costs, about its benefits, tenets and pitfalls. Now, when it’s over, we face a different problem.

As I said, we already succeeded in getting rid of communism. But – along with the predominant view at home and elsewhere – we erroneously hoped that the attempts to suppress freedom and to centrally organize, mastermind, regulate, control the whole society (and economy) were already matters of the past, an almost forgotten historic relic. They are, to our great disappointment, still there. I see more examples of them in Europe and in most of international organizations than in America itself, but they can be found here as well.

The reason is that there are new, very popular and fashionable “isms” which again put various issues, visions, plans and projects ahead of individual freedom and liberty. It is social-democratism (which is nothing else than a milder and softer version of communism), it is human-rightism (based on the idea of mostly positive rights applicable all over the world), it is internationalism, multiculturalism, europeism, feminism, environmentalism and other similar ideologies.

Communism is over, but attempts to rule from above, are still, or perhaps again, here.

The second main challenge I see is connected with our experience with the EU, but goes beyond it because it is part of a broader tendency towards denationalization of countries and towards world-wide supranationalism and global governance.

The special sensitivity, that I (and many of my countrymen) have, makes me view many current trends in Europe rather critically. My opponents do not seem to hear my arguments and a priori keep rejecting the views they don’t like. To understand my criticism requires familiar knowledge of the developments in the EU, its gradual metamorphosis from a community of cooperating nations to the union of non-sovereign nations and prevailing supranationalistic tendencies. This is not the standard knowledge in America.

I have always been in favor of friendly, peaceful, and for all of us enriching cooperation and collaboration of European countries. However, I have many times pointed out that the move towards an ever-closer Europe, the so-called deepening of EU, the rapid political integration, and the supranational tendencies without an authentic European identity and an European demos are not only necessary for the freedom and democracy in Europe, but damaging.

Freedom and democracy, these two, for us so precious values, cannot be secured without the parliamentary democracy within a clearly defined state territory. This is exactly what the current European political elites and their fellow-travelers are attempting to eliminate. And it bothers me.

This is from a speech Klaus delivered before the CATO Institute earlier this year and his ranking of the Religion of Environmentalism™ as the third main threat to individual freedom is a great read.

Or, kick back and see for yourself.



Writing in the Financial Times June 13th, Klaus stated that,

As someone who lived under communism for most of his life, I feel obliged to say that I see the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity now in ambitious environmentalism, not in communism. This ideology wants to replace the free and spontaneous evolution of mankind by a sort of central (now global) planning.

The environmentalists ask for immediate political action because they do not believe in the long-term positive impact of economic growth and ignore both the technological progress that future generations will undoubtedly enjoy, and the proven fact that the higher the wealth of society, the higher is the quality of the environment. They are Malthusian pessimists.

The scientists should help us and take into consideration the political effects of their scientific opinions. They have an obligation to declare their political and value assumptions and how much they have affected their selection and interpretation of scientific evidence.

Does it make any sense to speak about warming of the Earth when we see it in the context of the evolution of our planet over hundreds of millions of years? Every child is taught at school about temperature variations, about the ice ages, about the much warmer climate in the Middle Ages. All of us have noticed that even during our life-time temperature changes occur (in both directions).

Due to advances in technology, increases in disposable wealth, the rationality of institutions and the ability of countries to organise themselves, the adaptability of human society has been radically increased. It will continue to increase and will solve any potential consequences of mild climate changes.

I agree with Professor Richard Lindzen from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who said: “future generations will wonder in bemused amazement that the early 21st century’s developed world went into hysterical panic over a globally averaged temperature increase of a few tenths of a degree, and, on the basis of gross exaggerations of highly uncertain computer projections combined into implausible chains of inference, proceeded to contemplate a roll-back of the industrial age”.

The issue of global warming is more about social than natural sciences and more about man and his freedom than about tenths of a degree Celsius changes in average global temperature.

As a witness to today’s worldwide debate on climate change, I suggest the following:

• Small climate changes do not demand far-reaching restrictive measures
  
• Any suppression of freedom and democracy should be avoided
  
• Instead of organising people from above, let us allow everyone to live as he wants
  
• Let us resist the politicisation of science and oppose the term “scientific consensus”, which is always achieved only by a loud minority, never by a silent majority
  
• Instead of speaking about “the environment”, let us be attentive to it in our personal behaviour
  
• Let us be humble but confident in the spontaneous evolution of human society. Let us trust its rationality and not try to slow it down or divert it in any direction
  
• Let us not scare ourselves with catastrophic forecasts, or use them to defend and promote irrational interventions in human lives.

Amen, brother!


Also at A Tangled Web

Damn Capitalists

Lithuania joins carbon challenge roster
Lithuania has confirmed that it will join its Baltic neighbors in taking the European Commission to court over the level of its carbon dioxide emission allowance.

It is the seventh eastern European nation to take legal action, creating a serious headache for EC regulators.

Heh. Wait until New Europe floats the idea that in all matters EU, it should be one nation, one vote. That will cause some real headaches.

Lithuania has asked for a CO2 allowance of 11.2 million tonnes a year for the period 2008-2012, after the European Commission has halved its original allocation of 16.6 million tonnes to 8.8 million tonnes.

"Lithuania's government is going to appeal to the European Court of Justice over emission allowances," said Nemira Pumprickaite, spokeswoman for Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas August 10.

In Brussels, a spokeswoman for Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said the Commission was confident that its decision would be upheld in court.

Baltic neighbors Latvia and Estonia as well as larger eastern European peers Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia have also decided to appeal to the EU court over the CO2 quotas as too restrictive for their growing economies.

Lithuania has said it will have to produce more electricity from fossil fuel plants, a major source of pollution, after the closure of its remaining Soviet-built nuclear reactor to fill the gap until a new nuclear plant comes on stream.

Leading presidential contender Ron Paul is trying figure out how to link this to Bush foreign policy blowback.

Well, There They Go Again

Although Old Europe wet its panties, New Europe is relatively unfazed by the recent bluff and bluster of Soviet Russian president Vladimir Paranoid.

Russia backs out of arms treaty
Russia’s decision to withdraw from a Cold War–era weapons treaty is directly tied to plans to host part of the U.S. missile-defense system in the Czech Republic, one analyst says.

“Russia feels threatened,” said Vít Beneš, a researcher at Prague’s Institute of International Relations. “I think the link is quite clear. … Russia is trying probably to blackmail Europe.”

The 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) agreement restricts the arms member countries can amass and was a major factor in bringing the Cold War to a close.

On July 13, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree withdrawing Russia. According to a statement released through Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry July 14, the pullout resulted from “exceptional circumstances” and will take effect in 150 days.

Exceptional circumstances such as cancelling elections, Putie?

[....]

Despite its role in Russia’s decision, the Czech Republic will not react on its own, said Defense Ministry spokesman Andrej Círtek. “We will negotiate our reaction as a member of NATO,” he said. “There won’t be any individual reaction on the part of one member country.”

[....]

[....]

Despite the symbolism of Russia’s decision, it is unlikely to threaten the Czech Republic and other NATO members, at least in the short term, Beneš said. “It’s more about rhetoric than about a real security threat.”

Pssst, Putie! Those upstart Czechs are telling you to STFU -- again.

Poles to EU: Nope

Poles smudge EU agreement before the ink has even dried
A deal on Europe’s future, stitched together at last week’s bad-tempered summit, began to unravel yesterday after the intervention of the EU’s most unpredictable leader.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the Polish Prime Minister, who sent his brother Lech, the President, to the summit, stunned Brussels by declaring his determination to renegotiate the compromise. The twins spent much of last week’s detailed negotiations on the phone to each other and Lech had said that his brother was content with the package. But Jaroslaw, who demanded extra voting power for Poland, insisted yesterday that the deal had not taken full account of Poland’s demands.

Now he wants a permanent mechanism that allows a minority of dissenting states to be able to delay EU decisions for up to two years. His latest outburst has alarmed EU leaders, who were hoping for a trouble-free passage to a final text in October and a signing ceremony in December. An Inter-Governmental Conference will open on July 23, with representatives from all 27 EU nations to write the EU reform treaty, which critics say will be a thinly disguised version of the failed EU constitution.

With general agreement on the contents, all seemed to be going smoothly until Jaroslaw Kaczynski, referring to the deal to delay new voting weights for each country, said: “We have to finally resolve this issue at the Inter-Governmental Conference.” The European Commission responded furiously. “This was clearly settled at the European Council last week,” a spokesman said. “A mandate is a mandate and a deal is a deal. Now it is time for IGC to finish its job.

The Dutch and le Froggies gave you a mandate two years ago; and that was to shove the EU constitution up your brain.

Portugal, which takes over the EU’s rotating presidency from Germany tomorrow, said: “There was a deal at the highest level and we hope that deal will be respected.” A German government spokesman added: “The outcome of the summit was unanimously backed and Poland agreed to it.”

Ahhh, the European Commission is furious with Poland. They got their jaws tight over Iran, too.

Expect an Up yours! to be sent from Warsaw to Brussels, perhaps via Berlin, in the near future. Then the EU/EC can send the Poles the tried and true s t e r n l y ... w o r d e d ... l e t t e r.
Then the Fwench - led by the ever-intrepid Koslings - can spring into action and surrender save the day.

Previously on JWF

EU Summit: View From The Czech Lands

Although he's an avowed Eurosceptic, President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic, the most trusted political leader, is often 'misunderestimated' by international media and the renowned foreign leaders Jean-Pierre had hallucinatory delusional conversations with.

Such misunderestimations continue to be made because Klaus will sometimes be rather forceful with his opinions; and at other times will somewhat understate his position.

Czech president welcomes summit brake on EU super state
(PRAGUE) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus cautiously welcomed the outcome of the EU's summit on Sunday, saying that a brake had been put on moves towards creating a European super state.

"This train that was before heading ever faster in one direction has to some extent braked and slowed down and we can try to get it moving somewhere else. This is a great victory for which we can all be thankful," Klaus said in an interview on the Czech commercial broadcaster Prima.

Klaus added that it was "a victory for reason" that moves towards the creation of a European super state enshrined in the former constitution had been blocked.

But he cautioned that some basic formulations from that treaty, derailed by French and Dutch referendum rebuffs in 2005, had still found their way into the text of the new agreement about the future functioning of the EU hammered out by European leaders on Saturday.

"Of course, I still have some fears that some of the (summit) changes might be more cosmetic than fundamental," he said, adding that German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier had reportedly declared the summit a victory because the basis of the constitution had been saved.

Klaus, a former right-wing prime minister, founder of the Civic Democratic Party and admirer of former British premier Margaret Thatcher, said he had only had a chance to read the 66-page preliminary conclusions of the summit in English.

Because Klaus is a firm believer in the free-market economic model, he is branded a right-winger, [Nazi, wink, wink]. Someday, but obviously not today, the MSM will exercise some intellectual and journalistic integrity and admit that the Austrian corporal and his minions were avowed Socialists.

Klaus sidestepped a question of whether Czechs should vote in a referendum on the new agreement, cautioning that it would be difficult to boil down the summit's conclusion into one question to put to voters.

"I hope, however, that there will be a serious public discussion about this," he added.

Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said on Saturday that he did not think a referendum should be held on the new EU agreement, adding though that parliament would have to decide.

The new EU constitution treaty must be ratified by all 27 member states. Given the statement by Irish Premier Bertie Ahern that Ireland would hold a referendum and the outrage in Britain over Tony Blair's transition to French Poodle, methinks ye olde pig will first take flight.

The Dawn Compromise

Angela Merkel demonstrated her skills as a tough negotiator, as did Lech and Jaroslav Kaczynski.

Tony Blair turned into a French Poodle as Nicolas Sarkozy had no trouble out-smarting Blair.

The Czechs, Slovaks and Lithuanians subtly demonstrated that New Europe will be a force to be reckoned with.

But who really came out a winner from the EU's Brussels summit?

Europe's Marathon Talks Clinch a Deal
[....]

A showdown between Merkel and Kaczynski brought the summit to the brink of failure. Merkel heaped on the pressure by saying that she would launch treaty negotiations without Poland, but once a compromise deal was reached, she had to deal with other countries' resistance to what they felt had been too many concessions to Britain.

Once a deal was finally hammered out, all the heads of states pronounced themselves pleased. Polish President Lech Kaczynski praised the diplomatic skill and "solidarity" of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Tony Blair. Sarkozy said he had worked hand in hand with Merkel and described the deal as "good news for Europe." He said it was a key achievement to have struck a deal with Poland. "After all, we didn't want to leave the biggest country in Eastern Europe behind."

The agreement is crucial for the EU. After the collapse of the constitutional project, following its rejection by France and the Netherlands in 2005, the bloc was caught in a state of paralysis. But Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel had been determined to revive the plans to streamline the EU when Berlin took over the presidency in January. She has spent the past six months trying to hammer out a deal for a slimmed down treaty that could be accepted by all 27 members. And she finally succeeded. The member states have agreed to an intergovernmental conference which will give the deal a legal framework. The treaty will then be ratified by the member states and should come into force by 2009.

Poland Wins Concessions

As expected, the biggest hurdles to overcome were Poland and Britain. Poland felt that its role in the future European decisions would be diminished while bigger countries, in particular Germany, would have a greater say under the new "double majority" voting system. Under the new system, decisions made by the European Council will no longer be made unanimously but rather by a combination of 55 percent of EU states, which have to represent at least 65 percent of the total EU population.

In the run up to the summit Poland's undiplomatic rhetoric, including its repeated references to the Nazi occupation during World War II, shocked and enraged many EU leaders. Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Poland's population would have been much bigger than its current 38 million if it weren't for the fact that millions of Poles died during the war.

The compromise with Poland includes the postponement of the new voting system until 2014, and it will now not be fully implemented until 2017. In essence, it means the Poles can maintain their current level of influence in the EU for another 10 years. Under the current system Poland has 27 votes on the EU's decision-making council, compared with 29 for Germany, although its population is twice as big.

Warsaw was also offered pledges of solidarity in the event of any future energy crises, a major concern as Poland is dependent on Russia for much of its energy supplies. Indeed, German-Polish relations took a dramatic turn for the worse when former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder* signed a Baltic Sea pipeline deal in 2005 that bypassed Poland. The Poles felt Germany and the EU was ignoring their concerns about being over-reliant on Russia for energy supplies.

The agreement was only reached after a dramatic struggle the likes of which has not been seen at an EU summit for many years. Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who did not travel to Brussels, seemed to be calling the shots from Warsaw. When he rejected Merkel's first compromise offer, which included a delay to the voting system until 2014 and more seats for Warsaw in the European parliament, it looked as if Germany's dream of a summit success would end in tatters.

A Surprise Ultimatum

But Merkel's reaction was swift: She presented Warsaw with a surprise ultimatum, threatening to move ahead with the treaty without Poland. Her move was a gamble, with Poland's allies the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Slovakia rushing to defend Warsaw, but it prompted a last-minute rush of mediation and finally Poland was convinced by Blair, Sarkozy and Luxembourg Primer Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who played the good cops to Merkel's bad cop. The German chancellor then presented her last offer to the Poles, and they accepted.

There's more.

*Just prior to leaving office, Gerhard Schröder signed a deal with Russia to build the Nord Stream pipeline. Shortly after leaving office, der Gerhard accepted a lucrative position with a consortium that is controlled by Russian energy monopoly Gazprom --- which is building the pipeline.

The Gloves Have Come Off

This is really getting to be fun.

Poland invokes Nazi occupation to bolster EU case

European leaders today gathered in Brussels for a bruising battle over the future of Europe, with Britain and Poland, the two main obstacles to a deal on a new treaty on how the EU is run, pledging no surrender on their key demands.

Under the chairmanship of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, the leaders of 27 states launched an attempt to hammer out a consensus on a "reform treaty" replacing the defunct European constitution.

As Germany sought to lower expectations about a breakthrough after six months of closed-door negotiations on the new deal, Tony Blair announced he was prepared to walk away from the Brussels summit if Britain's four key demands were not met.

Poland, meanwhile, raised old grievances about Germany from the second world war to try to bolster its case for a "fairer" voting system in running the EU.

The Polish prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, made the extraordinary claim that it would be eligible for more votes in the EU if the Nazis had not invaded Poland in 1939.

Funny how an inconvenient truth is considered as merely extraordinary.

------ ker-snip ------Mr Kaczynski's statement meanwhile laid bare the strength of the anti-German emotion underpinning the Polish position.

Under current arrangements dating from 2000, Germany has 29 votes to Poland's 27 in EU councils, the ministerial level meetings of member states.

The new system is based on population sizes, and gives Germany more than double the Polish vote. The Poles are incensed and are demanding a new way of calculating votes that would diminish German "hegemony".

"If Poland had not had to live through the years of 1939-45, Poland would be today looking at the demographics of a country of 66 million," Mr Kaczynski said.

The Polish prime minister again threatened to "veto" agreement at the summit today. But he also appeared to leave himself room for a climbdown.

"The situation still does not satisfy us," Mr Kaczynski told the Warsaw newspaper, Rzeczpospolita.

"We should do everything to push through our proposal or to obtain some other solution that would equally satisfy our ambitions. Either we obtain that, or there will be a veto."

Some climbdown.

More like an "Up yours!"

They're At It Again

The planets are in alignment, but not for Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy, or Tony Blair.

CeskéNoviny reports from Luxembourg:

Czechs support Polish plan of EU voting rights' re-weighting
The Czech Republic continues to support the Polish demand for an overhaul of the EU voting rights, Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra told journalists.

Vondra said EU foreign ministers succeeded on Sunday in solving several problems that remained open ahead the EU summit, opening on Thursday.

He added that three main issue have remained unresolved: the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the superiority of EU law, and the division of powers between the EU and its member states.

Germany that is now presiding the EU originally defined six discussion topics for the summit: EU symbols (flag, anthem), the superiority of EU law, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, EU foreign policy, the division of powers between the EU and member states, and the role of national parliaments.

Vondra said he expected the summit to last longer than two days as planned.

He said there were other proposals that might change the final text of the EU treaty, such as the Dutch call for more powers for national parliaments, which the Czech government supports.

He said he believed a compromise would be reached on the controversial issues.

If the EU does not find agreement, no other alternative exists according to him. "There is no B plan," Vondra said.

The Czech Republic is the only EU country openly supporting the Polish demand for re-weighting the EU voting rights.

Poland stated it would not accept the new treaty unless its demand was included. Vondra said the Czech position on the issue was not so strict.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday that his country would veto only efforts to revive the old constitution or possible attempts by individual states to negotiate exclusive exceptions from the new rules for themselves.

Old Europe never dreamed that New Europe would reject their domination.

Reality sucks.

European Revolution On The Horizon?

Anger at Blair's 'secret deal' to sign new EU constitution

Tony Blair has been engulfed in a row over Europe after it became clear he is under huge pressure to sign a "son of constitution" treaty next week.

A leaked letter by current EU president Angela Merkel revealed that a deal is being drafted to revive almost all the controversial elements of the flopped European Constitution.

Kind of sounds like Trent Lott, The Fat Drunk, John McCain and the Amnesty Bill.

The disclosure sparked demands for a UK referendum on the new treaty - and angry claims that EU leaders were trying to smuggle in a massive new extension of Brussels power "by the back".

Yet, it was just two days ago that Blair, during a joint news conference with Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, told reporters that in his opinion, "the decisive member states agree that the rejected European constitution cannot be revived".

Today Downing Street, which has already made plain that Mr Blair will not sanction a referendum, played down the fears and insisted that the final shape of the deal was unclear.

But the Merkel letter, which was leaked in Brussels, made plain that there is already broad agreement that "much of the substance" of the defunct constitution should be resurrected.

Writing to fellow leaders as part of the pre-summit exchange of views, she said it had been agreed to drop the term " constitution" to appease those who thought the EU was taking on the trappings of a state. But that was seen as "a major concession" - and most countries wanted "as much of the substance of the Constitutional Treaty as possible" to be saved. The implication was that the constitution would be revived in all but name, but this time without voters getting a choice.

Hmmm. Seems to me that Germany's been down that autobahn before.

Tory Europe spokesman Mark Francois said: "This is all being done in secret behind the back of the British people and the Parliament. If any further powers are given away, there must, absolutely must, be a referendum".

The constitution was controversial because it proposed scrapping national vetoes in dozens of areas, including policing and justice; the creation of a permanent elected president and foreign minister, and a legally binding Charter of Fundamental Rights that would increase trade union influence.

It was abandoned after being rejected in referendums in France and Holland. Britain had promised a referendum but Mr Blair says the new document will be just "an amending treaty" and need not be put to a vote.

In other words, the peasants are too stoopid to know what they'd be voting on.

He is expected to demand an opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights and No 10 insisted that nothing had been agreed yet. "This document is a private report and we should not read too much into it at this stage" said a spokesman.

However, German officials were yesterday boasting that the new deal would give the European Union a "single legal personality".

Now that your Big Lie has been exposed, Tony, be not surprised when the Czechs tell you to kiss their ass, along with Poland and a few other EU members from New Europe.

Ironically, Blair and Merkel have provided an inconvenient truth to the opinion of the European Union recently put forth by Czech President Vaclav Klaus.

I am frustrated that the people in Europe do not see this fundamental metamorphosis sufficiently clearly and especially do not think about its inevitable consequences. I am angry with politicians and their fellow travelers that they do maximum to hide it and to make it fuzzy.

I consider it wrong. I am not satisfied with making only cosmetic changes. I am, therefore, in favour of redefining the whole concept of the European Union.

Mr. President, your wish just may have come true.


Have a question for Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus?.

UPDATE: The Daily Mail is running a poll.

More at EU Referendum

Das Kapital Didn't Stick

Deals in Balkans, Vietnam and Russia highlight firms' growing influence abroad

The nation’s energy companies are successfully elbowing out competitors to expand their interests across Central and Eastern Europe. ČEZ, the country’s dominant energy utility, made history last month with the largest-ever foreign investment by a domestic company, at 1.4 billion euros (39.6 billion Kč/$1.9 billion). It beat the record set in March by Zentiva, the largest generic drug manufacturer in the Czech Republic, of 460 million euros.

The deal is a joint venture with Elektroprivreda Republika Srpska (ERS) to modernize the Gacko I power plant and construct a new coal-fired power plant, Gacko II, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. ČEZ will own a 51 percent stake in the enterprise, called Nove Elektrarne RS (NERS), which is also the largest direct foreign investment in the Serb Republic.

“The planned investment into the construction of the plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina is another step toward the fulfillment of our vision of becoming the leader in the electricity market in Central and Eastern Europe,” Martin Roman, ČEZ’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.
It is the company’s fifth foreign agreement. ČEZ has already acquired three distribution companies and the Varna power plant in Bulgaria, a majority stake in the distribution company Electrica Oltenia of Romania and two Polish power companies, Elcho and Skawina.

Capitalism trumps the others at any time and any place; limp-wristed neocoM theories and practice notwithstanding.

Understanding The Menace

It's obvious that nearly fifty years of brainwashing, brutality, intimidation and occupation had little effect. The Prague Post tells us that Russia's political posturing is a disservice

U.S. efforts to station a missile shield in what used to be Warsaw Pact territory have Moscow making threatening noises and reviving its Cold War posturing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the shield will threaten his country’s security, and that Russia would be forced to direct its missiles against targets in the United States or Europe if the shield is deployed. And, last week, Russia made a great show of testing its own new multiple-warhead intercontinental missile.

The point of all this rhetoric and chest-beating is not to prove that Russia can overcome a U.S. shield. The fact is the shield could not possibly threaten Russia — and the Kremlin knows it. The point is to aggravate the political divide in Europe and to win points at home.

According to Tim Williams, head of the European Security Programme of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, the Russian arsenal contains 1,700 to 2,200 strategic nuclear warheads. The United States wants to put 10 interceptor missiles in Poland.

Putin and every military officer in Russia can do the math.

[....]

Russia’s leaders also say they are miffed that the United States began developing the shield, and courting Eastern Europe, without informing them. This assertion is so dishonest that those propagating it should be ashamed.

When the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2001, it did so with the stated intention of building a shield.

Looks like you're having some credibility problems, Putie. Some of the former slaves are telling you to STFU.

Again.

The Goracle May Be Offended

On Monday, insisting that there be a fair playing field, the Czech Republic filed a lawsuit against the European Commission over cuts in CO2 permits.

In an analysis worked out for the ministry, the way the Commission proceeded when setting the amount of carbon credits for the Czech Republic was interpreted as discriminatory against Czech energy and industrial companies, he added.

The Czech Republic asked for permissions to emit 102 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, but the Commission only approved 86.8 million tonnes a year. The lawsuit was proposed by Industry and Trade Minister Martin Riman.

The lawsuit has been sent to a first-instance court in Luxembourg where the Czech Republic will be represented by Tomas Bocek, government commissioner for the European Court of Justice and procedures with the European Commission.

By means of emission allowances, the European Union tries to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that are believed to cause global warming.

Not known to cause global warming, merely believed.

Within the emissions trading scheme, companies that want to emit more greenhouse gases than the set ceiling can buy extra carbon credits on the European market. In contrast, firms producing less emissions can sell their excess allowances.

The collapse of carbon credit prices in the middle of last year, which was caused by a surplus of allowances, was another reason for the Commission to resort to a reduction of carbon credits allocated to individual countries.

Why would someone be concerned about the price of carbon credits?

Someone's Going To Be 'Offended'

Euroweenies and the Leftisphere are sure to call it a deliberate provocation.

If I were to pick two words from George Walker Bush today that characterize our cooperation and friendship, I would call it active partnership. Thank you.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek
June 5, 2007

Well, There He Goes Again

Soviet Russian president, Vladimir Paranoid, is showing that he's a master at winning friends and influencing people.

President Vladimir Putin yesterday declared that a new arms race and cold war with the west had begun and announced that Russia would retaliate against US missile defence plans in Europe by pointing its missiles at European cities.

He also indicated that he would not shy away from fights with the German chancellor Angela Merkel on human rights and harshly accused Britain of "politicising" the murder of the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko.

Putie & human rights? LOL

On missile defence, Mr Putin said that if the Bush administration installed elements of a missile shield in eastern Europe, Russia would retaliate by training nuclear missiles on European targets. Russia has not specifically aimed its missiles at Europe since the end of the cold war but, asked if it might do so again if the US missile shield went ahead, Mr Putin said: "Of course we are returning to those times. It is clear that if a part of the US nuclear capability turns up in Europe, and, in the opinion of our military specialists will threaten us, then we are forced to take corresponding steps in response."

"What will those steps be? Naturally, we will have to have new targets in Europe."

The Euroweenies may wet their panties, but the Czechs and Poles (and the rest of New Europe) will never roll over for you, Putie.

"We want to be heard, we want our position to be understood. But if that does not happen, we lift from ourselves any responsibility for the steps we take in response, because we are not the ones who are initating the arms race in Europe."

Mr Putin's comments, in an interview with selected media from G8 countries at his dacha outside Moscow, appear calculated to inflict maximum panic among western leaders ahead of the G8 summit.

Putie, STFU.

European Perspective

Once again, a voice from New Europe provides analysis of Europe's dilemma.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said Thursday that plans to place missile defense bases in the Czech Republic and Poland will test Europe's willingness to defend itself.

The U.S. made a formal request in January to place a radar base in a military area southwest of Prague and 10 interceptor missiles in neighboring Poland as part of plans for a missile defense shield that Washington says would protect against a potential threat from Iran.

The U.S. plans, however, have raised concerns throughout much of Europe that placing bases in former Warsaw Pact countries could spark a new arms race with Russia. Moscow has strongly opposed the plans.
"It's not primarily about a radar and 10 interceptors, it's mainly about expressing the willingness to defend ourselves," Topolanek told a conference in Prague Thursday.

President Klaus and Prime Minister Topolanek will be meeting with President Bush during his visit to Prague prior to his attending the G-8 summit in Germany.