Quote of the Day

Courtesy of Mark Steyn in an article in UK's Daily Telegraph, on the change in tone (rather than substance) coming from U.S. and European diplomats this week:

International relations are like ex-girlfriends: if you're still deluding yourself you can get her back, every encounter will perforce be fraught and turbulent; once you realise that's never gonna happen, you can meet for a quick decaf latte every six – make that 10 – months and do the whole hey-isn't-it-terrific -the-way-we're-able-to-be-such -great-friends routine because you couldn't care less. You can even make a few pleasant noises about her new romance (the so-called European Constitution) secure in the knowledge he's a total loser.

Steyn has a good point on NATO. Whether or not the alliance is still around in ten years doesn't really matter. It will be dramatically different than it exists today and everyone knows it. Another one of my favorite passages:

America and Europe both face security threats. But the difference is America's are external, and require hard choices in tough neighbourhoods around the world, while the EU's are internal and, as they see it, unlikely to be lessened by the sight of European soldiers joining the Great Satan in liberating, say, Syria. That's not exactly going to help keep the lid on the noisier Continental mosques.

Read the whole article.