Germany is primed to play a central role in peace negotiations between Israel and Lebanon. Reports also show a growing sense of responsibility to the crisis among Germany’s European counterparts. Across the Continent, nations are coming to terms with the likelihood of their involvement in the unraveling war.

At a press conference after a meeting between Europe’s foreign ministers on Monday, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana “called on member states to be prepared to participate in operations in the Middle East” (EUpolitix.com, July 17). EU nations are cognizant of the proximity of this conflict to their borders, as well as its potential to blossom into a region-wide conflict.

Europe has as much vested interest in this war as anyone.

To this point, any discussion of participation by EU states in this crisis has been in the context of supporting a UN-led peacekeeping force. But with widespread skepticism increasingly replacing confidence in the United Nation’s ability to handle this crisis, is it possible we could see a host of European nations, led by Germany, assert themselves over the situation? The UN’s abysmal track record means this is not an unlikely situation.

Confidence in the UN has never been lower, especially in Germany. As talks of a UN mission to Lebanon persist, the German media has been the most skeptical about such a move. Germany’s Spiegel Online noted this trend in an article on July 18: “The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung points out that there’s already been a UN mission to southern Lebanon for the past 28 years that has apparently had little stabilizing effect on the region.” The UN has been there so long, reported Zeitung, that “it’s almost been forgotten.”

The daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung suggests any successful peacekeeping operation would have to be substantially different than the current southern Lebanon UN mission. “If the proposal from St. Petersburg was meant seriously, it would have far-reaching ramifications,” writes the paper. “An international stabilization force would form a buffer zone in southern Lebanon to stop the rocket attacks on Israel and thereby break the Israeli revenge reflex against Hezbollah that ends up hurting civilians.” But such a peace-keeping force would require a strong and specific UN mandate, not to mention that it would have to be a well-trained, streamlined and well-armed force. “A buffer zone, if treated seriously, would mean the near total control over large parts of Lebanon, the disarming or pullout of Hezbollah and taking over responsibility of security for the broad border zone.” Even if the UN did enter Lebanon under such a mandate, the faz, among other German sources, remains skeptical of the UN’s ability to resolve the larger Arab-Israeli conflict and deal with the many other parties that are determined to keep this crisis simmering.

Germany’s Die Tageszeitung newspaper wasn’t shy in expressing its doubts about the plan. “The existing proposals for an international ‘monitoring mission’ in the Lebanese border region near Israel don’t go far enough and are therefore hardly credible,” writes the daily.

The UN hasn’t even mandated that a peacekeeping force enter Lebanon, and already the German media is shooting the plans from the sky.

Surely the UN’s dismal history invites a similar negative sentiment from all of us. The UN has never totally solved any crisis it has intervened in. Indeed, as Charles Krauthammer predicted, it has never fully recovered from its impotence during the Iraq crisis. The UN has an abiding track record in its failure to bring peace.

If the UN is invited to establish peace between Israel and Lebanon, you can expect it to fail. It lacks the political fortitude and singular, clear-headed thinking needed to deal decisively with the many complicated issues surrounding this crisis.

Instead, it will be the “peacekeeping” forces of a German-led European army that will be called upon to really deal with the crises being precipitated by Iran and its Islamic henchmen. The fact that Germany and the rest of Europe are taking a special interest in the present war reveals the beginning stages of a trend we should expect to intensify.