Europe's contempt for Iraq grows apace

As is obvious no doubt to all those who notice these things, the European Union never really, as an organisation, supported the actions of America and its allies in Iraq. However I had no idea that they held such a level of resentment against the Iraqi people as is shown buy this comment from Javier Solana, our Foreign Minister,
"Perhaps the most promising area where the European Union can play a role is in providing assistance with the drafting of the Constitution".
Later in the same speech he claimed that,
"In Europe, as you know, peace is secured through institutional integration",
Eh?

Which institutions were integrated?

But I digress, Solana was speaking at the 41st Munich Conference on Security Policy. This jamboree included speeches by numerous bigwigs from around the world.

He was speaking after Gerhard Schroeder's speech had been read out by his ,Defence Minister Peter Struck,

"Today our security is threatened by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional instability and failing states. However, poverty and underdevelopment pose no less a threat. This has created ample breeding ground for international terrorism".

Now call me old fashioned and all, but poverty is no excuse for terrorism, the fellows that carry out most terrorist attacks are not poor. The people who flew into the twin towers were not lacking in cash. This is mendacious rubbish.

He followed up with his call for a seat on the Security Council, and this pretty clear statement of German military ambitions.
"German foreign and security policy is determined by our geographic and political location at the heart of Europe. We are formulating it in Europe, for Europe and from Europe. It is in Germany's, as well as the international community's interests, that the European Union assume greater international responsibility. The step towards creating its own set of political and military instruments with the European Security and Defence Policy is therefore necessary".
It seems that for Schroeder, a European Army is the same thing as a German Army.
Then he starts on Russia,
"Ladies and gentlemen, one of the fundamental truths of European politics is that security on our continent cannot be achieved without, and certainly not against, Russia. Since the sea change of 1989/90, we have managed to remodel our relations with Russia and moved away from Cold War confrontation towards ever more comprehensive cooperation - in political, security and economic terms. Given the historical background, this could certainly not be taken for granted".

Now hold on a moment Gerhard, that again is an odd reading of history.
Security in Europe was in fact achieved against Russia. It was by refusing to be cowed by Communism that the West, principally the US was able to secure itself. I am not sure but this passage could be occasioned by the fact that the Germany is increasingly reliant of Russian fuel supplies, "36 percent of its natural gas and 29 percent of its oil", so much so that the Swedish press last week were suggesting that the EU would soon become an economic vassal of the Russians.