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( - Sarkozy contre Chirac ... donc “POUR” la guerre en Irak)
A memo approved in 2005 by William Leach, then U.S. ambassador to Paris, deals with French opposition to the war declared against Iraq two years previously. Leach takes comfort in learning that the anti-war stance of then president Jacques Chirac was not supported by some prominent members of Chirac’s own party (...)

De Charette, according to the memo, called Chirac’s position on the war “embarrassing”. Giving the impression that he was speaking on behalf of Nicolas Sarkozy (...)

( - Britain & Dutch diplomats ... U.S. “eyes and ears” ... plus servants)
Another cable from 2005 pinpoints Britain and the Netherlands as the most trusted U.S. allies in western Europe. (...) Sobel says that the Dutch helped “push back” plans by France and Germany to develop a European military capability that could act independently of NATO, a U.S.-dominated alliance.

Furthermore, the cable celebrates the willingness of Dutch diplomats to act as “eyes and ears” for the U.S.

He applauds the Dutch, too, for providing “early logistic support” for the war in Iraq by allowing the U.S. military to pass through Rotterdam, when it was unable to use other European ports for that purpose. (...)

“As a Caribbean power, the Dutch have good reasons to lead an effort to balance traditional Spanish dominance on Latin American issues in the EU, but the U.S. and others will need to push them to take this role,”

( - U.S. nuclear weapons in european Nations)
Two decades after the Cold War was widely assumed to have ended, the cables show that at least 200 U.S. nuclear weapons remain on European soil. Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Turkey

( - NATO is planning for a confrontation with Russia)
In addition, the cables appear to offer proof that NATO is planning for a confrontation with Russia. A document from January 2010 shows that the alliance approved a plan during that month to expand an operation known as Eagle Guardian, under which preparations would be made for fighting with Russia in Poland and the three Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia).

( - NATO enlargement despite promises of the U.S. secretary of state )
This (NATO) enlargement occurred despite promises made to Moscow by James Baker, the U.S. secretary of state from 1989 to 1992, that NATO would not expand eastwards. (...)

“NATO’s new members on the Baltic Sea are delivering on the demands imposed upon them by accession to the alliance,” he added. “They host NATO - particularly U.S. - troops, bases, warplanes, warships and missiles. They provide troops for wars far abroad. They supply training opportunities on the ground and in the air for the war in Afghanistan and for future conflicts with none of the restrictions that exist in North America and Western Europe. And they render those multiple services near Russia’s western border.”

Yours Obediently, Europe - By David Cronin
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53931