Member-only story
Clubs Clubbed
The problem with being spineless is that you get crushed underfoot
When we look at the West from a geopolitical perspective, we see two large clubs that together ensured nearly eight decades of peace across Western Europe — something last seen during the days of the Roman Empire, and even then only over a far smaller expanse of European territory. The two clubs we’re talking about are the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The EU and NATO have undoubtedly been a tremendous success in terms of securing the conditions within which hundreds of millions of people have lived in peace and safety, even if most of us never stop to think about the forces that enable us to live indolent self-indulgent lives gawping at mindless entertainments while cramming an endless slurry of slop down our throats.
Unfortunately, however, both the EU and NATO are now largely controlled by politicians and an army of bureaucrats all of whom, thanks to successive decades of relatively undemanding peace, are now lacking an otherwise essential piece of anatomy: a spine.
In normal times, spinelessness can be made to seem a virtue, as this condition generally prevents any major squabbling between nominal allies. No matter what the issue, given enough meetings and enough fudging of words on…
