'Welcome To Natoland'.(World Affairs; Point of View)(a world community consisting of members of North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

Byline: Denis MacShane; MacShane is Labour Member of Parliament for Rotherham and a former minister for Europe.

Of all the lazy thinking in Europe's capitals, the laziest is the notion that the next U.S. administration will usher in a new era of sweetness and light in transatlantic relations. Nothing could be further from the truth. Barack Obama is the darling of the anti-Bush crowd in Europe. But in his book "The Audacity of Hope" he declares, "We have the right to take unilateral action to eliminate an imminent threat to our security." Obama insists that the U.N. Security Council should not have a veto "over our actions." He even offers an old metaphor as he accuses Russia and China of seeking "to throw their weight around," which means "there will be times when we must again play the role of the world's reluctant sheriff. This will not change. Nor should it."

Indeed, however much they dislike the idea, every U.S. president has to wear the free world's sheriff's badge. For Europeans to think otherwise is to sleepwalk into a freezing morning shower when the next U.S. president makes the first move Europe does not like. But rather than whining endlessly, London--together with Paris and Berlin--could take the initiative and define a new Euro-Atlantic community that would join the United States, Canada and most of Europe's nations, both in and out of the European Union. It would be called Natoland. It would stretch from the Black Sea to the Pacific coast and consist of more than a billion people in Australia, Europe, Japan, Turkey, South Korea and the United States--all living under the rule of law, with the democratic right to replace their rulers. In this community of nations, the media are free, people can travel where they want, say and write what they want, watch what they like and always have a lawyer at hand to defend them when in trouble. Natoland would be a grouping of the richest, best-educated, best-defended people in the world.

Natoland would be a political concept to replace the United States versus Europe argument of the Chirac-Bush-Schroder era. It would bring France back into NATO but allow a clearer European role, combined with Europe's acceptance that money should be spent on the military. Natoland would defend free trade and bear down on Chinese mercantilism. It would oppose Islamist jihadist zealotry and, while respecting religion, uphold the separation of faith and politics everywhere in the world. Natoland would require a massive investment in diplomacy so that the leaders of this community of nations would speak with one voice, thus thwarting the divide-and-rule tactics of a Putin, an Ahmadinejad or a Chavez.

Making clear that North America and Europe are partners would also put to rest the ...