Commenting to the tepid response of Europe for more help in Agfghanistan and its weak response to the Russian invasion of Georgiia George Will coined the phrase "obituraries of the West idea 'and wondered if the shadow of appeasement is now hanging over Europe.

NATO is based on collective security-an attack on one is an attack on all. This puts all the members on a par no matter how far away, how small or how militarily weak. Military action must also be predicated upon whether the negative consequences outweigh the positive ones. Is Europe ready to face the third general war within less than one hundred years for the sake of the Baltic States, Belarus or any states in Eastern Europe. This war would also involve the U.S. The geopolitical and military cards are the hands of the Russians. How long would it take Russia to invade and gobble up the nations in her area? Do Europe or the U.S. have the military muscle or will to fight Russia? Would miltary force lead to the threat of nuclear war?

Eastern Eruope has always been a bone of contention between Russia and Europe. Both look at Eastern Europe as a buffer betwen themselves. The need to defend this area in WWI led to the defeat of Germany and Hitler's invasion of it was The reason for his defeat. Unfortunately the states of Eastern Europe have never been able to defend themselves against their powerful neighbors.

Talk all you want about appeasement, weak response, but consider the options open to Europe and the U.S. If you want to protect weak nations from bully nations you bettter have the will and the muscle and be close enough to do it. You better be ready to accept war rather than a peace forced upon you by your own military weakness and lack of will.

I'm not sure the new cold war will be a hard war of physical strength as much as one of soft money.

Can we really threaten a country like China when they hold so much of our economic debt in bond? Can we challenge a country like Russia or Iran when it is doing a delicate balancing act with it's control over the price of oil?

little george bush had dreamed of a world where he was the only super power and could do things like invade Iraq simply because nobody could tell him no. With no real plan in mind, he attacked the wrong country and instead of an occupation, he got a war. A war he wasn't prepared for. A war that should have been a slam dunk, but turned out to have benched us instead.

It is hard to look at the other world powers and talk about how they have assumed an agressive stance in the last eight years. We have created a vacuum in world politics and they have been more than happy to fill that vacuum.