gc

Tom Wise MEP in the European Parliament Ind - Dem Group UK Independence Party UKIP Eastern Region Region


This morning I voted on an amendment, tabled by my friend, the Greek MEP Georgios Georgiou, calling for accession negotiations with Turkey to be dependent on the withdrawal of that country's troops from Northern Cyprus. Personally I don't think that accession talks with Turkey are a particularly desirable thing per se, and so I voted in favour of the amendment not just because this would benefit the Cypriot people, but because the insertion of this clause would effectively derail plans to bring Turkey into the EU for quite some time.

But I get very uncomfortable when politicians start to bring soldiers into their games. I remember in 2004, during the 'Orange Revolution' that brought democracy to the Ukraine, there was a great deal of speculation over how the EU should react if the Russians sent troops to intervene in the process. A German MEP suggested that the EU should respond to such an event by sending troops of its own "A blocking force, east of Kiev", he thought might be appropriate. He seemed to be overlooking one fundamental fact: The EU does not actually have an army. I was reminded of another mad German politician, 60 years earlier, who wanted to send non-existent troops to fight against the Russians.

This might be funny, were it not for the fact that after all the suffering of the last century, European politicians are still playing with the lives of young men. If their calculations are wrong, and the example of the lunatic German MEP does not inspire a great deal of confidence, the consequences can be almost too horrific to contemplate.

With this in mind, during my lunch break I visited a small and beautifully maintained military cemetery on the outskirts of Strasbourg. Here, a handful of British, Australian, New Zealander, and Canadian Servicemen from both World Wars lie alongside French and Germans, and many others from the various French colonial forces. Korea, Algeria, all took their toll on the families of Strasbourg, and near the entrance is the final resting place of a young man killed in action in Libya in 1998.

I think all politicians should be obliged to visit such places, and to reflect upon the consequences of their actions.

Tom Wise MEP

Strasbourg May 22nd.

Bett Nwar

I assumed everyone did it periodically. A lot of Remembrance Day services are held at memorials to these young men and women. Politicians can always be found at Remembrance day services, can't they?

Bob FM

Strikes me Mr Wise is creeping just a little. Perhaps he realises, a bit late, what a fool he has made of himself.

gc

I think you will find that Tom has a long record of supporting the Royal British Legion, both in the UK and overseas. He is in the latest 'Legion' magazine, in fact.

Anthony Butcher

I am not sure that comparing a German MEP to Hitler for suggesting that the EU should stand up to a Russian invasion of Ukraine is particularly fair or useful.

__________________
If you care about what's in your food and where it comes from, then get it labelled!
Label My Food - http://www.labelmyfood.org.uk

Internationalist

Isn't the EU in fact the archetypal model of 'soft power', or the notion that we can resolve problems without resort to military means? Indeed, this is one of the major problems I have with the EU. If I thought the EU could conceivably have anything remotely like a coherent and convincing foreign policy I might have to reconsider my position.

I think Mr Wise would find, as surely he knows, that a lot of the support for the EU is built upon the back of the horror of war and the idea that it must never happen again. He seems to sum up the sentiment behind the EU perfectly. But it is just that - sentiment. Hard-headed reality tells you that you need to have the means to back up fine aspirations otherwise it is hot air.

There is nothing wrong with being against war as such and I hope that we would all consider war to be horrific. However, a robust foreign policy and a strong defence are (I would contend) more solid foundations for peace than any number of grand declarations and international summits.

gc

AB, I think it is an good analogy given the context. He suggested a force of troops, dug in, in a line, to the east of Kiev. At that point, there was not even the rapid reaction force. I seem to remember some French troops being deployed in the Balkans, with EU flags on their shoulders, a year or so beforehand, but that was about the extent of EU military might.

Rather bizarrely, there was even a mention of a possible naval blockade: Look at the map and tell me how that would have worked! Kuhne hadn't read his history books, or even looked at a map, I suspect!

Aardvark

The Germans had a line east of Kiev briefly in the 40s and a lot of good it did them. The furthest east bunker used by Hitler was at Vinnytsa in Ukraine - the Soviet POWs who built it were shot on completion so nobody would know where the secret passages were. It was blown up during the last rout of western troops from Ukraine and the area is now a park with a few very big lumps of concrete in it. I worked there last year during the elections.

In general terms the western Ukrainians look to the EU, the eastern ones look to Russia. Many western Ukrainians served with the SS or forces allied to the Nazis and the eastern ones served with the Red Army; some changed uniforms and fought on both sides. Much of Ukraine had large Jewish communities, sometimes more than half of any given town was Jewish. Most are now gone.

Naval blockades of Ukraine or Russia are non-starters. The Ukrainians own Sebastopol, but there were lots of arguments after the collapse of the Soviet Union as the Black Sea Fleet was based there.

__________________
When in Woking do as the Wokes do.

"I do not wish to form my opinions by thoughtlessly quoting others; I wish others to support their opinions by sensibly quoting me." Paul Wesson (Aardvark) 13th April 2008

mkpdavies

Sadly for Wise, it doesn't really matter what he says anymore. He will forever be known as a traitor and a crook.

__________________
http://brits4ronpaul.blogspot.com/
http://wokinglibertarians.blogspot.com/
http://lpuk.org

My ignore list

Labour, Lib Dems

twizzel

What has prevented war in Europe has nothing to do with Europe it has everything to do with NATO and the abillity to destroy this planet several times over Europe has nothing to do with it.