As I look at these reports from Europe (Read about it here I  And here I  And here) , I'm reminded of an old story from the American West -- the shoot-out at the OK Corral.

The famous incident happened in Tombstone, Arizona. A feud had developed between the sheriff and some local families. On one side was the sheriff of Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, his two brothers Morgan and Virgil and an old friend of Wyatt's -- Doc Holliday. On the other side of the dispute were the two families, the Clantons and McLaurys. And like all good stories, a series of unpleasant encounters between the two rivals gradually escalated into an exciting conclusion -- a shoot-out at the OK Corral.

Here's how these reports from Europe remind me of that story. You see, instead of the town of old Tombstone, we have the modern European Union. Instead of sheriff Wyatt Earp and his deputies, we have Javier Solana and friends in his 10-nation military alliance. Instead of the two rival families, we have the United States and Britain. And instead of the OK Corral, we have the UN Security Council.

Here's my point: I'm not an experts on the shoot-out at the OK Corral. But, after seeing the movie, I walked away thinking the driving force behind the famous showdown wasn't so much the circumstances, but the personality of Tombstone's sheriff -- Wyatt Earp. 

 You see, in the same why I don't think the real driving force behind Europe's growing opposition to America's leadership today is over any particular action or event. As I've been reporting, I think the real conflict behind this feud is the new direction being  implemented by the EU's first High Representative of Common Foreign and Security Policy -- Javier Solana.

And, the way it looks, we're headed to a shoot-out at the UN Corral.