[link removed]

In this mailing:
* Soeren Kern: European Army: Rhetoric versus Reality
* Amir Taheri: New Team and New Fears in Tehran


** European Army: Rhetoric versus Reality ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

by Soeren Kern • November 7, 2021 at 5:00 am
[link removed] [link removed] [link removed] [link removed] [link removed]
rmy%3A+Rhetoric+versus+Reality [link removed]
* The call for a supranational army, part of a push for Europe to achieve "strategic autonomy" from the United States, is being spearheaded by French President Emmanuel Macron, who, as part of his reelection campaign, apparently hopes to replace outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the de facto leader of Europe.
* Many EU member states disagree with Macron. Eastern European countries, some of which face existential threats from Russia, know that neither the EU nor France can match the military capabilities offered by NATO and the United States. Other countries are concerned about a panoply of issues ranging from financial costs to national sovereignty.
* "If the EU Army undermines NATO, or results in the separation of the U.S. and Europe or produces a paper army, Europe will be committing the most enfeebling and dangerous act of self-harm since the rise of fascism in the 1930s. An EU Army will amount to European de-arming." — Bob Seely, Tory MP.
* "It will be hard to convince some member states that collective EU defense would bring the same security as NATO's U.S.-backed defense arrangement." — Richard Whitman, professor of politics and international relations at the University of Kent.
* "Few share France's willingness to splurge on defense, or its expeditionary military culture. (Germany, especially, does not.) Nobody agrees what 'strategic autonomy' actually means." — The Economist.
* "The EU is not a credible substitute for what NATO represents. You will not see any appetite for the European army amongst member states." — Kristjan Mäe, head of the Estonian defense ministry's NATO and EU department.
* "Even if national capitals wanted to lunge for a common army, there are so many technical, legal, and administrative differences between their militaries that it would take decades to produce a smoothly functioning force.... Conclusion: any talk of creating a fully-fledged common army, even within the next generation, is just that: jaw-jaw and not real-real." — Brooks Tigner, analyst, Atlantic Council.

The call for a supranational army, part of a push for Europe to achieve "strategic autonomy" from the United States, is being spearheaded by French President Emmanuel Macron, who, as part of his reelection campaign, apparently hopes to replace outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the de facto leader of Europe. Pictured: Soldiers of the Franco-German brigade, a military unit founded in 1989, jointly consisting of units from the French Army and German Army. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

European federalists seeking to transform the 27-member European Union into a European superstate — a so-called United States of Europe — have revived a decades-old proposal to build a European army.

The call for a supranational army, part of a push for Europe to achieve "strategic autonomy" from the United States, is being spearheaded by French President Emmanuel Macron, who, as part of his reelection campaign, apparently hopes to replace outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the de facto leader of Europe.

Macron claims that Europe needs its own military because, according to him, the United States is no longer a reliable ally. He cites as examples: U.S. President Joe Biden's precipitous withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan; the growing pressure on Europe to take sides with the United States on China; and France's exclusion from a new security alliance in the Indo-Pacific region.

Continue Reading Article ([link removed])


** New Team and New Fears in Tehran ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

by Amir Taheri • November 7, 2021 at 4:00 am
[link removed] [link removed] [link removed] [link removed] [link removed]
+New+Fears+in+Tehran [link removed]
* Major-General Hossein Salami, chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and keynote speaker in this year's ceremonies, even claims that the US has already lost its global leadership position while a trio made of China, Russia and Iran is emerging as the new arbiter of human destiny.
* Not responding [to an attack by Israel] would be a sign of strategic weakness and could encourage a fresh wave of domestic rebellion. Responding, on the other hand, could lead to a full-scale war for which the Islamic Republic is far from prepared.
* What Biden does next could prove decisive.
* If he surrenders too easily, he will re-energize Tehran's old demons. If, on the other hand, he opts for empty huffing and puffing, he may miss a chance to help those who strive for regime change in Tehran.

Major-General Hossein Salami, chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and keynote speaker in this year's ceremonies, even claims that the US has already lost its global leadership position while a trio made of China, Russia and Iran is emerging as the new arbiter of human destiny. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)

What do you do when you want to do something and yet you feel embarrassed about doing it?

This is the question that the "Supreme Guide" of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, faced this week as he wondered how to deal with one of his annual rituals celebrating the seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran and the holding of American diplomats as hostages on November 4, 1979.

During the eight-year tenure of the "New York Boys" under President Hassan Rouhani, the ritual had shed some of its harsher aspects and eventually been reduced to a symbolic gathering at the site of the former US embassy and the shooting of some footage for state-owned television.

In the past two years, many of the highlights of the annual ritual had faded into oblivion.

The annual "A World without America" symposium, attended for decades by professional anti-Americans from all over the world (including the US itself), was scripted out of the program.

Continue Reading Article ([link removed])

============================================================
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** RSS ([link removed])
** Donate ([link removed])
Copyright © Gatestone Institute, All rights reserved.

You are subscribed to this list as [email protected]

You can change how you receive these emails:
** Update your subscription preferences ([link removed])
or ** Unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])

** Gatestone Institute ([link removed])

14 East 60 St., Suite 705, New York, NY 10022