I somewhat agree with what Pat said - I don't think the headline quote was terribly helpful coming from the Chairman of the House Foreign relations committee. Lantos is

But..... I though some of Lantos OTHER comments were most interesting:

" Speaking at the dedication ceremony for a victims of communism memorial in Washington, Lantos said their departure from the European scene heralded a closer relationship in the Atlantic alliance, which was badly splintered over Washington's decision to launch the invasion of Iraq without strong European support.

Lantos' remarks reflected the lingering bitterness over French and German opposition to the war, as he recalled how the US saved Europe from fascism and protected it from communism for generations. He said the two leaders had turned their backs to the US and its fight against the next wave of tyranny, Islamic fascism. "

A lot of europeans like Joerg seem to believe that US outrage is confined to right-wing 'wingnuts' like myself and that the US Left is profoundly wise and very Mitteleuropean in their view (but I repeat myself)!

There certainly is a very loud segment of the US Left which ascribes to the view that Bush is the sole problem and everything will return to normal when (and if) a Democrat is elected President. Lantos remarks show that that view is much less than universal, that there are prominent Democrats (and others on the Left) who see and feel the European betrayal on Iraq/Afghanistan every bit as piercingly as any neocon does. I think there are quite a few of them - and the better informed the Democrat the more likely they are to see it this way.

Lantos is quite left and very outspoken. For every Lantos there are probably any number of others who feel similarly but have kept their mouth shut. I suspect Senators Joseph Biden and Hilary Clinton are others. Not all democrats are as clueless as you seem to believe, folks....

I dare, Zyme, because it was and is a betrayal. It remains a betrayal which has calcified into permanent national policy for Germany, France, Spain, etc.

You chose your Arab 'allies' over your NATO allies. Very well, so be it. Tom Lantos comments were rather more positive than my analysis of the situation. Lantos comments that relations are improved because Schroeder and Chirac have left the scene, which is true. But my feeling (and I suspect his feeling) is that if Chirac/Schroeder lost 100 'points' on the relationship, Merkel and Sarko have clawed back no more than 10 or 20 'points' of the 100 that were pissed away by their predecessors.

There is a long way to go on this and few Europeans seem to be taking it seriously. Or even seeing it at all. Very well, the US can play the betrayal game also.

Or if we can't stomache betrayal the way you sophisticated Europeans do so well - we can play the more honest distance game. Next time there is a problem in the Balkans (or anywhere) - good luck! The Yank's ain't coming!

"I am always tempted to agree when people say americans are not receptive for the nuances of diplomacy."

That old saw. When there is a falling-out it's not because there are genuine issues - it's invariably because Americans don't understand the 'nuances of diplomacy'.

The chief of these nuances seems to be that Europeans are always correct and the US always wrong except when it agrees with whatever set of Europeans one belongs to of course.

A second chief nuance is that diplomacy is only successful if it serves European interests. Whether it serves US interests is of no importance whatever. Whomever asserts otherwise is merely showing no grasp of the nuances.

Feh.

Yes. Of course there are many more examples on the Euro side - but bring up this one, will you.

I'm shocked you don't bring up the other supposed US betrayals, the failure to enter WWII in 1939 or WWI in 1914 in support of their British and French allies!

Face it, Zyme - diplomacy is about self-interest - and Schroeder's Germany chose to pursue the passions of the crowd and fleeting political advantage. He threw the long-term out completely.

Merkel is trying to repair the damage but won't be able to. Chancellors many years from now will curse Gerhard Schroeder's name.....

The answer is neither, David. Blair never was Bush's 'poodle' any more than Chretien, Martin, or Harper of Canada were his 'poodle'.

Canada and the UK merely are countries which take their alliance obligations seriously. France and Germany used their copies of the NATO alliance for toilet paper.

So be it. They will learn the true meaning of 'reciprocity', in the fullness of time.....

I'd say that NATO is no alliance at all, right now. Apparently it was never more than a one-way alliance even in it's heyday. The US defends Europe - Europe refuses to defend the US.

Zyme, you and your fellow Germans will have to face the fact that NATO is no alliance at all - and Schroeder killed it stone cold.

I don't recall calling anyone a traitor, Zyme. Treason in international affairs makes no sense at all. Betrayal, yes, treason no.

Funny pparadox here. Unsophisticated Americans with no sense of nuance nonetheless speak a language with considerably more muance than German has - at least in this case.

Must be the British influence and never mind that Britain has not produced a truly great writer since Charles Dickens. Ireland has, other English-speaking places have, and the un-nuanced US has produced several. Nonetheless we remain inferior. Anothe paradox.

"Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth."

"I can understand German as well as the maniac that invented it, but I talk it best through an interpreter."

"The Germans have an inhuman way of cutting up their verbs. Now a verb has a hard time enough of it in this world when it's all together. It's downright inhuman to split it up. But that's just what those Germans do. They take part of a verb and put it down here, like a stake, and they take the other part of it and put it away over yonder like another stake, and between these two limits they just shovel in German. "

- Mark Twain, American writer and journalist