How a debellicized Europe can make a difference

Kaplan argues that NATO’s 7000 troop contribution to the Afghan surge should not be considered an end, but a beginning:

Consider: China is rising as a great power, particularly in the naval sphere. The U.S. will not fight a war with China, but it will leverage like-minded, democratic others such as India, Indonesia, Australia, South Korea, and Japan to help manage Chinese ascendancy in the maritime rimland of Eurasia. This will take a lot of work, and a lot of ships. And with the U.S. increasingly tied up in the Indian and Pacific oceans as the years and decades march on, it will help to rely increasingly on European forces to cover the the Atlantic and Africa for them.

Although Kaplan continues to be pushing Europe towards a more warlike nature, there seems to be a slight change in tone. Take this quote from the Dispatch:

At home, Europe’s social safety net is estimable. But what will the European Union, now with its own president and foreign minister, work toward abroad?

Now, remember this?

What does the European Union truly stand for besides a cradle-to-grave social welfare system? For without something to struggle for, there can be no civil society—only decadence.

Anyways, read the whole Dispatch at The Atlantic: Let’s Go, Europe.