Airbus should stay in Europe and try to slow the influence of Russia

OPINION:

The world does not work when the United States does not lead. History is instructive if you look back at the Clinton administration’s handling of the outbreak of war in the Balkans in the wake of the breakup of Yugoslavia. Indecisiveness showed evidence of weakness leading to violence, and ultimately, it was only strength that led to peace.

To prove that, note that few people remember Warren Christopher these days. He was not an effective secretary of state or a leader. In the early months of President Bill Clinton’s administration, he traveled to Europe “to consult with our allies and friends on a course of action” to stop the killing in the former Yugoslavia.

“We’re ready to play our part, but others must be as well,” Christopher said. This was clearly an effort to disperse leadership roles and responsibilities.

The Europeans were not prepared to play a part, and the U.S. did not lead. Instead the killing went on for years, with the city of Sarajevo destroyed and more than 100,000 people killed. It was only when the U.S. military got involved that the parties came to an Air Force base in Dayton, Ohio, and agreed to stop the violence.

American power delivered peace.

We still see that today. You may not have heard much about it, but in the Red Sea, the Houthis in Yemen are attacking international shipping. The U.S. Navy is preventing those attacks from shutting down global commerce. Recently, “the U.S. military’s Central Command, along with forces from Britain, claimed they shot down 18 drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles, and one anti-ship ballistic missile fired by the Houthi rebels,” Britain’s Independent reports.

The recent strikes against the Houthi terrorists are a better response than the lack of response in October 2000 when terrorists attacked the USS Cole docked in Aden, Yemen, for refueling. Seventeen sailors died when a small boat loaded with explosives attacked the ship. There was no response from Presidents Bill Clinton or George W. Bush, and that weakness proved ominous as al Qaeda followed up with the Sept. 11 attacks.

American power protects the world.

It goes without saying that the weapons used to defend against the Houthi attacks were made in the USA. Our country is the only one that can build many of the much-needed high-tech weapons, and the only one that can deploy military forces virtually anywhere, at any time. But we can’t take this dominance for granted. It isn’t a coincidence. It is the result of a deliberate plan to promote American technology and weapons manufacturing.

This matters, because a European company now wants to play a larger role in American military planning. Airbus Group SE is “a company based in the Netherlands that is active in the aerospace and defense industry,” Reuters explains. It already has several defense contracts in the United States, and it wants to add more.

Airbus is planning to bid for a part of a contract to build an Air Force refueling tanker. “The A330 U.S.-MRTT [Multi-Role Tanker Transport] is a reliable choice for the U.S. Air Force: one that will deliver affordability, proven performance and unmatched capabilities,” an Airbus spokesman says. Set aside the fact that a U.S.-made tanker is already doing the job effectively, and consider whether Airbus is even reliable.

Any company is going to claim its products are good. But Airbus has a history of cheating. Just four years ago, Airbus agreed to pay more than $3.9 billion in fines after it was accused of bribery in the United States, France and the United Kingdom.

“Airbus engaged in a multi-year and massive scheme to corruptly enhance its business interests by paying bribes in China and other countries and concealing those bribes,” an assistant U.S. Attorney explained in a Justice Department statement. It was the largest global foreign bribery resolution at that time.

Before that, in 2019, the U.S. government was granted the largest arbitration award in World Trade Organization history, resolving a disagreement with the European Union over illegal subsidies that its governments were paying to Airbus.

“For years, Europe has been providing massive subsidies to Airbus that have seriously injured the U.S. aerospace industry and our workers. Finally, after 15 years of litigation, the WTO has confirmed that the United States is entitled to impose countermeasures in response to the EU’s illegal subsidies,” then-U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said at the time. There is no reason to trust Airbus with our national defense contracts.

The world has learned the hard way that we can’t depend on a European company to protect us. We need American power and American manufacturing to do that. Airbus should stay in Europe and try to help them improve their military outlook. They need all the help they can get to slow the influence of Russia. Meanwhile, our safety is made in the USA.

• Retired Navy Cmdr. Kirk S. Lippold is former commanding officer of the USS Cole and an exclusive inspirational leadership speaker with Keppler Speakers. Christian Josi is a writer and a veteran public affairs and media strategist.