36. "Defense"

Words change meaning. Twenty-five years ago "defense" in the mouth of an American Secretary of Defense meant defense against attack by Soviet nuclear weapons. The NATO treaty provided it to European nations, with U. S. weapons making an "umbrella."

Yesterday Secretary of Defense Robert F. Gates warned those nations that the U. S. was getting tired of expending "increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources...to be serious and capable partners in their own defense" (NYT 6-11-11).

Same word, referring to the same treaty. Coming from the same country, through the same official source. But not the same ears hearing it, and not processed the same way by what's between them.

Let me guess that process, as it might be going on between the ears of Angela Merkel, leader of one of several nations failing, the U. S. believes, to play their NATO part. Make her also a leader in word inspection, always starting with what words actually refer to. Here she sees that being a partner in Germany's own defense means joining an attack on the Libyan army. Merkel: "Ah, Gates's 'defense' now means 'offense.'" She, a good listener, hears that the word reverses its dictionary meaning (root: "to ward off") so she adjusts her internal vocabulary to fit the situation.

If she goes the other way, and tries to find something in the situation to fit the word Gates wants her to use, she can do it. Germany can be thought of as defending itself against her partners' impulse to go to war. That's what practically all of Europe saw itself doing when George Bush called for allies going into Iraq. But what in this case? She'll have Germany defending itself, in the end, against the humane instincts of Barack Obama. That doesn't fit the reality of diplomacy and world opinion. There are just too damned many realities.