“By choosing two virtual unknowns, with paltry political experience, as the first permanent president of the European Council and the new European Union foreign-policy supremo,” you open your leader about Herman van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton, “Europe’s leaders have made their union look ridiculous” (“Behold, Two Mediocre Mice,” November 28, 2009). I beg to differ. In geopolitical terms, it is the European Union that is actually ridiculous. The choice of its leaders is therefore perfectly adequate. As you put it, the new leaders are “decent in their way.” And so they are. They will do at home and the near abroad, where they will occasionally if bashfully venture. Nothing else will ever be required of them, anyhow. But it is high time for Europeans to get a clear notion of their place in today’s world. Van Rompuy and Ashton will doubtless help them get the message loud and clear.

Addendum (December 9, 2015)

So many years later, the vaunted president and the foreign-policy supremo are not the same. Herman van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton have disappeared without a trace. Jean-Claude Juncker and Federica Mogherini are now at the helm. Behold, two mediocre mice once again. For better or worse, everything else is the same. And the European Union is as ridiculous as it has ever been. Every single geopolitical problem facing the Union nowadays is actually dealt with by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. But the Union’s geopolitical influence is fading by the day. Even though Germany towers above the other countries in the Union, it is hardly a match for quite a few countries around the globe. Returning to the Union’s leadership, no changes should be expected in the future. It is reserved for virtual unknowns with paltry political experience. Sorry, mediocre mice.