Will yet another general war come to Europe?
The two worst wars ever started in central Europe – where there is now pitched combat.
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Tomorrow is Remembrance Day in the Netherlands, capped by a ceremony in which the nation pauses in silence to remember what was stolen from it – and from the human family – by war.
Last year I was in Amsterdam on Remembrance Day, and wrote about the experience of an entire nation falling into absolute silence to reflect on its dead.
After silence, bugles sounded mournfully and church bells pealed. Then the air shook as a formation of F-35s, world’s best jet fighter, flew low over the capital.
The Netherlands American Military Cemetery in Margraten.
The Netherlands was a peaceful, nearly demilitarized neutral going into the second world war. The cost was hundreds of thousands killed by Nazi evil, including an estimated 100,000 Dutch Jews.
The thunder of F-35s – the Netherlands is quite proud of being the second nation, after the United Kingdom, to operate this advanced American design – seemed to say, “No one will ever do that to us again.”
The Netherlands was liberated by Canadian infantry, an event my Canadian forebears spoke of with affection. Next week, after Remembrance Day in Dutch cities, comes the 79th anniversary of the end of World War II on the continent.
Si vis pacem, para bellum – if you want peace, prepare for war.
For 79 years in Europe, preparing for war has brought peace; the standard NATO firearms cartridge is even called the parabellum. Think Vladimir Putin is a tough guy? His speeches and writing show he’s terrified of NATO, especially its air and naval power, which significantly exceed Moscow’s.
One hates to ask this – but is NATO today sufficiently prepared for war?
There’s no getting around that the two worst events in human history began in central Europe. (Whether the 1937 Japanese invasion of China was the opening act of World War II is debated by historians.) If there is another general war, it may start where the first two did.
The situation in Ukraine is bleak. Should Russia prevail, its army might continue marching west. Should Russia collapse again, this time owing to the strain of imperial overreach, Putin or a similar Moscow thug might lash out. If the murder of Jews returns to Europe, or the murder of Muslims arrives, civilization will be set back.
There’s only one aspect of this the NATO nations are sure they can control – military spending. Does it need to increase?
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