There are certain parties, Vladimir Putin and Gerhard Schröder among them, who would like to see the trans-Atlantic alliance between the United States and the European Union dismantled and shattered. Unfortunately, it looks like the U.S. Secretary of Defense is only just too happy to assist them. The outrageous comments made by Robert Gates in the Los Angeles Times about British, Canadian, and Dutch troops not being up to the cut to fight insurgency in Afghanistan sets a new standard for American stupidity in foreign policy (and believe me, that’s a tough standard to set).