I share Gilbert Doctorow’s wonder. What has turned Europeans into warmongers?

March 16, 2025 | Categories: Guest Contributions | Tags: |  Print This Article

I share Gilbert Doctorow’s wonder. What has turned Europeans into warmongers?

“Today’s session opened with a discussion of the warlike positions that have taken hold among all strata of the Belgium population. Parents want paramilitary education added to the curriculum in the last year of secondary school. They want a military draft to be introduced and they say they are ready to send their sons to war against Russia! In a country which has no military parades, which has no military valor to celebrate since several of their generals participated in Napoleon’s wars and invasion of Russia, this is striking. I think the country’s armed forces held out for a week or two at the start of WWII, and more than 150,000 Belgians fled to England in the opening days. And yet, today they are all lions! But then no one seems to have asked the 18 year old boys how they feel about it…”