The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is having a meeting in the Netherlands this week. As host, Dutch Defense Minister Eimert Van Middelkoop welcomed the 26 countries to the meeting and immediately launched a jab at about 22 of the countries. It seems the Dutch are getting pissed off a bit perturbed about the fact that they, along with Canada, Great Britain and the United States that are fighting in the dangerous South and Eastern portions of Afghanistan, while the other countries hang out in the relatively safe North. Well Mr Defense Minister ... welcome to our world. For years the US and Great Britain have been doing the dirty work heavy lifting for the world. I guess it's not as fair when your countrymen now must help shoulder the burden.
But let's be fair to the Dutch ... they have earned the right to complain, because they are actually there, bleeding with the Canadians, Brits and Americans. Our attention should be turned to those that are shirking their responsibilities. First on the list is of course the French. They have volunteered now to send 50 troops to the south to help with training the Afghani forces there ... of course the other 1,000 troops will remain hiding in the north. The German contingent of 3,100 troops have never ventured out of the north.
On a positive note, Slovakia said it would double its' contingent to 111 troops (do they now have 55 1/2 troops in country?), some of which will be sent south to help the Dutch. The Czech republic will increase its' forces from 225 to 415, but have not said where they would be sent. The country of Georgia, which is not in NATO, is reportedly considering sending 200 troops to help the Dutch in an attempt to suck up prove themselves worthy of NATO membership.
A proposal has been put forth to rotate the troops of all participating NATO units, so that no one Nation unfairly shoulders the burden of all of the combat. In a perfect world, this would be both fair and just ... let's see if NATO can accomplish this.
My thanks to Lime for teaching me how to do the cross-outs on this post.
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16 comments:
huh? whu? when did i instruct you on how to do this? did i forget?
Paul, as usual....excellent post..but...Who is carring the load.....NO!!!!not Sam?????? stay well.....
Wow, 50 troops. They must be good! LOL!
WELLLLL lookey here...look who just woke up and arrived at the party!!!! WHOOO HOOOO lets here it for the DUTCH!!!!!!
LOL ;o)
Great post.
This has nothing to do with your post. But isn't it good to have blogger friend help with the art of writing/posting? Terri@SteelMagnolia has helped me so much, including the directions for the 'strike out'. And, btw, I never did thank you for directing me to the "banner sight" and the tips for getting it posted on my blog...so, consider yourself THANKED!
NATO, unless on a peace mission (no chance of getting killed!) is a joke. I love it when Europe bickers with each other- European Union my foot...
The dutch are still proving they are a little fish in a big world!
lime ... You must have forgotten, it was just a few days ago.
tapline ... it goes without saying, the US has the majority of the troops in Afghanistan. Then again, we are the biggest nation in NATO, with the most troops. The point is that when NATO sends forces to a trouble spot, those soldiers must be available to fight anywhere in the country ... not sit safe and sound in the peaceful areas, otherwise why even send the troops?
revolution ... At least they are sending 50 troops, the Germans aren't sending any. I wonder if those 50 really good troops are actually French or if they are part of the foreign legion?
bambi ... LOL, the Dutch have discovered what the US has known for a long time.
inspired ... you are right, this had nothing to do with my post ... but you are very welcome.
buffalo ... I think you have NATO confused with the UN. This is actually the first time that NATO has deployed outside of Europe, before they were just a defensive force with fixed locations to defend in case the Soviet Union attacked Europe. I pray that NATO doesn't become as useless as the UN.
mike ... but the point is at least the Dutch are trying.
Paul
The war in Afghanistan is our forgotten war. The War in Afghanistan began on October 7th 2001, that is over six years of fighting and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Some of our friends are having a great time in their area of operation, others are in the line of fire. Here is an idea for everyone, we should ROTATE the operating areas every six months! Have a fine Texas evening.
cfs
The DUTCH r whinging? awww...
Keshi.
Seems as though the Dutch have been absent from the world scene until recently. Maybe they've avoided the critical issues by hanging on to the vision of the little Dutch boy who saved his beloved land by placing his finger in the leaking dike.
They've been "in the world but not of the world"....and I don't mean that in a biblical sense.
nato is a joke indeed...great read Paul..Keep em coming!
very nicely done cross out lol
Like the crossouts! I hope the NATO initiative to rotate comes to fruition.
Somebody had to welcome Eimert Van Middelkoop to your world, that was a great point!
There is good information in this post, thank you.
tlrb ... a rotational system are what the Dutch are proposing, let's see what NATO does.
keshi ... yeah, that's too bad. Aussies never whine.
inspired ... I would never think that you were making an off-colored joke.
angel ... for decades, NATO was the only thing holding the Red Army at bay. I think they are trying to figure out life after the cold war.
niki ... I love my cross-outs.
ai ... thanks Otto, I try to gull as much information as I can.
Thank God for Nato, considering the UN is a totally useless entity.
Aren't the Aussie's in there with us, as well?! They usually are.
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