NATO: A “FRAUDULENT ALLIANCE?” Germany is pulling out of a joint training exercise because of a Ralph Peters column? Peters’ reply is on-target:

Called for comment at home in northern Virginia, Peters said, “It’s perfectly all right for the Germans to call President Bush a Nazi, it’s perfectly all right for the Germans to criticize everything about America, to lionize [“Fahrenheit 911” director] Michael Moore and treat our soldiers as second-class human beings … but they want to try and censor the American media.”

Peters said the German decision was disappointing but not surprising.

“I think the fact that they’re pulling out is the best imaginable indicator of how weak our alliance is, how meaningless Germany’s contribution is,” said Peters. “If they pull out because they can’t stand one 800-word opinion piece in an American newspaper, how could we possibly expect them to stand by us in a violent crisis?”

We’ve already learned how much we can expect from them in that regard, I’m afraid.

UPDATE: Reader Eric Lundberg emails:

While sharing Medienkritik’s general disgust with the German double-standard regarding criticism, I think it is pertinent that the reason the German general pulled out of the exercise is that Ralph Peter’s is scheduled to be a featured speaker at the event (according to the September 24 “Stars & Stripes”). That said, I can’t imagine the U.S. Army being as thin-skinned.

Good point.