You know those guys in German cafes wearing stylish shirts over slim, well-trained chests sipping caffeine from a small cup while watching the world walk by at 5:30 in the afternoon. That is what you get when you have a society geared toward leisure, with affluence spread across the population, limited working hours and a tiny military budget.
Robert Gates is on a well-orchestrated, diplomatically-timed grumpy tour, telling friends and allies what he really thinks. Today he is chastising NATO for not having the military arsenal and stockpiles required to carry out a sustained campaign.
He also correctly points out that important NATO countries have not demonstrated the political commitment to engaging their troops in Afghanistan. Gates praises some small member nations, such as Belgium and Denmark, but he clearly means to criticize Germany as the leading nation to refuse to participate in American-led military interventions. He does this just days after the President has awarded Angela Merkel with the Medal of Freedom.
Of course, Gates has a point. The reality is that NATO has always counted on the United States to take the lead in military assertiveness, even during the Cold War. All of Europe could get along as long as no one European nation claimed military leadership. If the Americans take the charge, then Europe can find a means to follow.
Post-Communism, this arrangement no longer holds, for there is little consensus among Europeans for military intervention outside the continent. Gates may fume all he wants, the reason Germany does not spend more on its military budget is because the voters do not want it to do so. Whereas World War Two is continually invoked in the United States as a justification for projecting military power, the same war functions in Germany as a reason not build up the military. The larger picture is that European countries would prefer to spend their tax money of social improvements.
Democracy in this case functions as a brake on military expenditure. And who really would like to see Germany develop an interest in foreign military intervention--no one other than a few short-sighted American hawks.
The world is much safer with those two guys in the cafe sipping espresso, and they're happier, too. It is only the Americans who feel the burden of domination.
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