What does Les say the iron and clay toes are?
The iron and clay toes picture the Western Europe Consortium of Nations, a mixture that cannot cleave or hold together. Iron and clay illustrate division: just as cement mixed with gravel crumbles, Europe's nations have deep historic hatreds, making the consortium unstable and divided.
Les teaches that the iron and clay toes are the Western Europe Consortium of Nations. He explains that the imagery is perfectly illustrated by iron and clay. Being an old farmer, he remembers that before farmers mixed concrete with washed sand, they used any gravel they could get, and the cement did not last long—it started crumbling because it did not have the ability to cleave. That, he says, is the way Europe is: nations that over hundreds and hundreds of years have hated each other with a passion, making that region a battleground for centuries. The Germans hate the French, the French hate others, the Spaniards hate the Italians, and those hatreds run deep.