The future of NATO and Europe.

I've been sort of following this week's NATO summit and thinking about the future of America's involvement in the defense of Europe. This week I've also been reading the book While Europe Slept by Bruce Bawer, and have been perusing some articles and comments written on the subject by members of Europe's political/media elite. From all that I've read I'm left with one conclusion as to what our policy regarding the defense of Europe (Western Europe in particular) should be: abandon them to their fate. This may sound a little callous, but I think it's the kindest thing we could do for Western Europe and I'll explain why. There's an old principle in conservative orthodoxy that says "once you let the government do something for you, you'll never be able to do it for yourself again". This is exactly what has happened over there. For the last 60 years they have lived under the umbrella of U.S. military might, and this has now allowed them the luxury of drifting off into a leftist fantasy-land where no one is looking to harm them, freedom is a meaningless concept, and everything would be okay in the world if it weren't for "American Imperialism". The removal of the Soviet threat has only hastened this decline. If you don't believe me, read some articles in European newspapers or blog posts about the reasons the West won the Cold War. A popular (albeit non-sensical) view is that it had nothing to do with men like Kennedy and Reagan who were unwilling to roll over for punks, but were willing to draw a line in the sand to contain a ruthless aggressor. No, these guys were the problem; it was the "international peace movement" (also referred to as the "peace racket" in this article, which I recommend) and "enlightened" leaders like Gorbechev. Besides, the communists weren't all that bad and wouldn't have bothered anybody if not for the provocations by the U.S. (which I'm sure would come as a complete shock to this kid) There are endless examples of this mind-set among the European elite, a few more of which will be listed when I write up my next book review. I would hope that the small dose of reality leaving them to fend for themselves would provide will do them a world of good. Besides, given demographic trends, in another generation or two Europe will have a majority population that will not bow to Russia or any other potential aggressor. The downside is that they will be bowing towards Mecca.
The other major issue at the summit was the proposed "missile defense shield" in Eastern Europe. This program is designed to renew the arms race with Russia.( well maybe that's not the goal, but it will be the result) This is a system that is ridiculously expensive, has never succeeded any tests that weren't carefully rigged, and is supposed to counter against a threat that does not exist. The idea is that these missiles would shoot down an Iranian missile launched at Western Europe. Putin has many flaws, but I doubt stupidity is one of them. He knows damn well who's missiles this thing is supposed to be a deterrent to. The idea that Iran would be driven by religious extremism to launch a missile at Europe also fails to account for the fact that the forces of radical Islam are using a more powerful weapon to gain control of Europe, the womb. All in all, I don't think it was that great of a week for Bush other than the announcement that France is sending additional soldiers to Afghanistan.