Ramsco's Women Empowerment Initiative Recognized Among Top BRICS Businesswomen Practices for 2025    Egypt, Elsewedy review progress on Ain Sokhna phosphate complex    Gold prices end July with modest gains    Pakistan says successfully concluded 'landmark trade deal' with US    Egypt's FM, US envoy discuss Gaza ceasefire, Iran nuclear talks    Modon Holding posts AED 2.1bn net profit in H1 2025    Egypt's Electricity Ministry says new power cable for Giza area operational    Egypt's Al-Sisi, Italian defence minister discuss Gaza, security cooperation    Egypt's FM discusses Gaza, Nile dam with US senators    Aid airdrops intensify as famine deepens in Gaza amid mounting international criticism    Health minister showcases AI's impact on healthcare at Huawei Cloud Summit    On anti-trafficking day, Egypt's PM calls fight a 'moral and humanitarian duty'    Federal Reserve maintains interest rates    Egypt strengthens healthcare partnerships to enhance maternity, multiple sclerosis, and stroke care    Egypt keeps Gaza aid flowing, total tops 533,000 tons: minister    Indian Embassy to launch cultural festival in Assiut, film fest in Cairo    Egyptian aid convoy heads toward Gaza as humanitarian crisis deepens    Culture minister launches national plan to revive film industry, modernise cinematic assets    Rafah Crossing 'never been closed for one day' from Egypt: PM    I won't trade my identity to please market: Douzi    Two militants killed in foiled plot to revive 'Hasm' operations: Interior ministry    Egypt's EHA, Huawei discuss enhanced digital health    Egypt, Oman discuss environmental cooperation    Egypt's EDA explores pharma cooperation with Belarus    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



The wrong lesson of Munich
Published in Daily News Egypt on 09 - 09 - 2008

NEW YORK: Seventy years ago this month in Munich, the British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, signed a document that allowed Germany to grab a large chunk of Czechoslovakia. The so-called "Munich Agreement would come to be seen as an abject betrayal of what Chamberlain termed "a far away country of which we know little. But that was not what many people thought at the time.
Chamberlain's belief that Britain was not yet ready for war with Nazi Germany, and that diplomacy and compromise were safer options, was in fact shared by many Europeans, who knew from personal experience the horrible consequences of war. Nonetheless, Chamberlain has gone down in history as a coward, and his "appeasement of Nazi Germany is often blamed for Hitler's subsequent campaign to conquer the rest of Europe.
Chamberlain was probably wrong. Britain and France could have stopped Germany. "Munich, 1938, was one of the rare occasions in the history of democracies when careful diplomacy was a mistake. What was needed was a bloody-minded romantic hero, willing to gamble the fate of his nation by fighting on, "whatever the cost may be, in the words of Winston Churchill. George Santayana famously warned that "those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. History, however, teaches many lessons, some of them contradictory, and is never repeated in quite the same way.
Sometimes too much attention paid to the past can lead us badly astray. So, what, exactly, has the world learned from Munich, 1938?
If anything, West Europeans after World War II drew conclusions that were closer to Chamberlain's thinking in 1938 than Churchill's. After two catastrophic wars, Europeans decided to build institutions that would make military conflict redundant. Henceforth, diplomacy, compromise, and shared sovereignty would be the norm, and romantic nationalism, based on military prowess, would be a thing of the past.
Out of the ashes of war a new kind of Europe arose, as did a new kind of Japan, which even had a pacifist constitution (written by idealistic Americans, but gratefully accepted by most Japanese).
Nationalism (except in football stadiums) gave way to smug self-satisfaction at having found more civilized, diplomatic, and pacific solutions to human conflicts.
To be sure, the peace was kept. But only because it was guaranteed by the United States, which still stuck to pre-World War II notions of national and international security.
In the US, Munich has had a very different resonance. There, it fed the Churchillian illusions of many a "war president who dreamed of going down in history as freedom's heroic defender. Munich has been invoked over and over - to fight Communism, to topple Saddam Hussein, to stop Iran, and to wage a "war on terror.
These different perspectives have caused peculiar tensions between the US and its democratic allies. Europeans and Japanese depend on American military power for their security, but often don't like the way the US uses it.
Too much dependence has also had an infantilizing effect. Like permanent adolescents, Europeans and Japanese crave the security of the great American father, and deeply resent him at the same time.
There is little doubt that the US, like all great powers, has embarked on foolish wars and acted like a bully, especially toward nations in its own hemisphere. But, even without invoking the ghosts of Munich, there are occasions when military force is the only way to deal with a tyrant.
Europeans were unwilling to stand up to Serbian mass murderers. The Americans (after initial reluctance) had to do the dirty work. When the US decided to push Saddam Hussein's killers out of Kuwait, German protesters screamed that they would never "shed blood for oil.
On the other hand, European diplomacy has had some remarkable successes. The prospect of joining the European Union helped consolidate democracy in central and eastern Europe, and in Turkey, too. Some of these democracies have joined NATO, and others desperately want to.
NATO, however, unlike the EU, is a military organization. Therein lies Chamberlain's old problem: are Europeans prepared to fight wars on behalf of their fellow members?
During the Cold War, this was not a serious dilemma. Europeans relied on NATO and the US to defend them in case of Soviet aggression. Now Georgia and the Ukraine would like to expect that Europeans and Americans would shed blood to defend them against Russia.
The choice is stark: if Europeans are prepared to fight for Georgia or Ukraine, these countries should be invited to join NATO. If not, not. But, instead of choosing, major European countries, such as Germany, have dithered, first dangling NATO membership as a juicy carrot, and then withdrawing the offer, leaving the Americans to indulge in heroic rhetoric without the necessary follow-through.
All this is making the Western alliance look incoherent, and, despite its vast wealth and American military power, strangely impotent. It is time for European democracies to make up their minds. They can remain dependent on US protection and stop complaining, or they can develop the capacity to defend Europe, however they wish to define it, by themselves.
The first option may not be feasible for very much longer in the twilight days of Pax America. The second will be expensive and risky. Given the many divisions inside the Union, Europeans will probably muddle on, until a serious crisis forces them to act, by which point it could well be too late.
Ian Burumais Professor of human rights at Bard College. His most recent book is Murder in Amsterdam: The Killing of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance. This commentary is published by DAILY NEWS EGYPT in collaboration with Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org).


Clic here to read the story from its source.