March 25, 2003
Watch Out, Luxemburg!

Under the heading 'Weasel Watch', Best of the Web reports disquieting news:

NATO's three pro-Saddam members are considering starting a military alliance of their own, Reuters reports. "Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt announced plans for France, Germany and Belgium to meet next month to discuss integrating their armed forces more closely," Reuters reported on Friday, noting that "Germany and Belgium are among the lowest defense spenders in NATO as a proportion of gross domestic product." Charles Johnson has high hopes for what he calls "the weasel-poodle pact": "This may lead to the creation of the mightiest force for appeasement and capitulation the world has ever known."

This just begs for further comment:

  1. The phrase "weasel-poodle pact" leaves out the Belgians: surely it's the "weasel-poodle-waffle pact".
  2. Johnson may be too pessimistic about the pact's chances for military glory. Given the constraints of geography and their low military spending, this triple alliance can only be directed at the one country that borders France, Germany, and Belgium, is entirely surrounded by them, and could be conquered, though with difficulty, if they devoted most of their military resources to the effort: Luxemburg. Can we expect a replay of the partition of Poland?
Posted by Dr. Weevil at March 25, 2003 12:05 AM
Comments

Maybe we should elevate the Belgians to (richly deserved) primacy and call the French, German, Belgian axis across the middle of Europe the "Waffle Cone".

Posted by: Dodd on March 25, 2003 10:50 PM

I shall think of it as the weasel-poofle pact.

Posted by: Joanne Jacobs on March 26, 2003 04:43 AM