Britain vs. Iran: The EU's role

Will EU hearts beat as one with Britain's? Don't bet on it, says Timothy Garton Ash.

Last week, while the European Union celebrated 50 years of peace, freedom and solidarity, 15 Europeans were kidnapped from Iraqi territorial waters by Iranian Revolutionary Guards. As I write, those 14 European men and one European woman have been held at an undisclosed location for nearly a week, interrogated, denied consular access but shown on Iranian television, with one of them making a staged "confession," clearly under duress. So if Europe is as it claims to be, what's it going to do about it? Where's the solidarity? Where's the action?

[...]

Many continental Europeans, if they have registered that there is a crisis at all, will probably think of it as yet another consequence of a foolish, illegitimate Anglo-American military action in Iraq. They will see it as a problem for "them" (Brits and Americans) rather than for "us" (right-thinking, peace-loving Europeans). Some may suspect the British sailors and marines did in fact stray into Iranian territorial waters, as the Iranians claim. A few may even privately mutter, "Well, you had it coming to you."

[...]

Here is something Europe should do: Flex its economic muscles. The EU is by far Iran's biggest trading partner. More than 40 per cent of its imports come from, and more than a quarter of its exports go to, the EU. Remarkably, this trade has grown strongly in the past years of looming crisis. Much of it is underpinned by export credit guarantees given by European governments, notably those of Germany, France and Italy.

[...]

So here's a challenge for the German presidency of the European Union: Will you put your money where your mouth is? Or are all your recent speeches about European solidarity in the cause of peace and freedom not even worth the paper they are written on?

Now Mr Garton Ash is a particularily prominent pro-Europe Brit. Yet he clearly is close to outrage at the EU's mealy-mouthed passivity. A lesson to him and others likeminded, perhaps? As to views in the "Union's" current presidency:

1) Who are the good guys?

Evil Americans, Poor Mullahs

By Claus Christian Malzahn

Forty-eight percent of Germans think the United States is more dangerous than Iran, a new survey shows, with only 31 percent believing the opposite. Germans' fundamental hypocrisy about the US suggests that it's high time for a new bout of re-education...

2) How to deal with Iran:

The German papers Thursday [March 28] praised the British response to the crisis, with some newspapers calling for international solidarity in dealing with Tehran...

That certainly is a stand-up attitude. Whilst at the scene of the latest action:

Britain is seeking a United Nations Security Council statement demanding the immediate release of 15 British sailors and marines seized last Friday by Iran, British officials said Thursday.

At the United Nations in New York, British officials were circulating a draft statement, which would also condemn Iran's actions in the case and support the British position that its troops were acting legally within Iraqi waters. The officials hoped it would be issued later Thursday, according to a spokesman for the British Foreign Office...

Any wagers on how much support Russia and China will give for any substantive action? By the way, in the latter case it is, as with Darfur, all about oil.

Mark C.

Update: Should you wish to face the enemy within (us) take a look at the comments on Mr Garton Ash's piece as published in The Guardian. First on the scene is "DaveCanuk". Oh dear. Can't spell much.

I also hope you and your emperial overlords get chased back to your home countries promptly.

Cry, the beloved country. Such cultural self-loathing. Diagnosis, please?

Posted by markc at March 29, 2007 06:35 PM