I got this Article out of the NewsMax.com newsletter. IT's by the United Press International.


The Europian Union demonstrated its determination to become a major military power when its leading members signed a $23 billion contract to buy a fleet of 180 Airbus A400 military transport jumbo jets, with the capacity to deploy up to 20,000 troop far beyond Europe's shores in a single airlift.

The move is a dream come true for French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who since breaking with Washington over Iraq have vowed to rival the United States.

By far the largest military contract the Airbus manufacturers have evr signed, the deal was justified as essential for further military cooperation in Europe and as a crucial symbol of the EU's military ambitions. It will secure 40,000 jobs across Europe over the next two decades.

The strategic thrust of the Eu's military ambitions worries some Americans, who fear this could weaken NATO.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair persuaded the Clinton and Bush administrations that Britian's pressence would enhance rather than weaken the European allies' commitment to NATO.

Last year's NATO summit in Prague agreed to set up a new and highly mobile rapid-reaction force, and the EU force and the new EU airlift capacity could fit into this concept.

But last month's Ranco-German-Belgian summit that called for an EUmiltiary capabiliti distinct from NATO, and with its own intelligence, staff and logistics arms, and seperate headquarters from NATO, has revived American concerns.

"What we need is not more headquarters," commented U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. Blair warned, "Add this row to the fall-out from Iraq and you have the beginings already of the division that we wanted to get rid of when the Cold War finished."

The problem is that increasing the EU"S military capabilities, such as the Airbus contract, is a double-edged sword that could stregthen NATO, so long as the European allies remain committed to the alliance as the central translantic security system. But if that committment to NATO falters, then the Airbus contract gives EU the capability to become a global strategic actor in it's own right, in a way that could worry the United States in regiond where American and European policies differ, as they did over Iraq.