U.S. And Europe Drifting Apart

For 45 years, from 1945 to 1990, the Cold War linked the United States and Western Europe as strongly as never before ideologically, politically, and militarily. Whenever one crossed the Iron Curtain and experienced the totalitarian and militaristic tyranny that Leninism and Stalinism had imposed upon Russia and her satellites, one knew how fortunate one was to live in a country of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. We called it “The Free World,” even though that was somewhat of an overstatement in view of the growing liberalization of life in some countries outside the North Atlantic region.

As soon as the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain disappeared, Europeans no longer needed the United States militarily. For Americans, the demise of the Soviet empire opened up resources to intensify the U.S. presence elsewhere on the globe.

When in 2001 President George W. Bush and his neoconservative advisors, such as Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz, Feith, and Abrams, took charge of America’s foreign policy, they changed its agenda more drastically than most Americans and Europeans had expected. For the neo-cons, Europe was no longer the central stage of world politics. Following the wishes of their close friends in Israel’s Likud regime, the neo-cons persuaded the President to give the Middle East the highest priority, even ahead of East and South Asia. Rumsfeld publicly derided as “Old Europe” the Europeans that did not want to support the Bush-and-Blair foreign policy agenda.

Israel’s right-wing regime wanted a United States that would tolerate the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and prevent Muslim governments from pressuring Israel into unwanted compromises on the future of Jerusalem and a Palestinian state. There were--and still are-- strong indications that Israel’s right wing also would like to see the existing regimes in Syria and Iran eliminated.

Predominant popular opinion in all European countries strongly opposes the neo-con and the Likud agenda. Polls showed that a majority of Europeans wanted the United States to urge on all parties in the Middle East a comprehensive peace settlement with the hope that cooling off Middle East tensions would also reduce terrorism against Israel, the United States, and its allies.

The leaders of Germany and France had no problem volunteering military forces to assist the United States in the elimination of Al Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The same leaders, however, did not see a necessity for hastily invading Iraq, as President Bush and Prime Minister Blair planned it. Ironically, in the meantime all of the governments that joined the U.S. coalition in Iraq are now under popular pressure to withdraw their contingents.

Since the Second World War, the European democracies have always been more inclined toward diplomacy and multilateralism than the U.S. governments that wielded overwhelming military strength. The neo-cons in particular have been advocating unilateralist interventions abroad in pursuit of their imperialist temptations, ever since in 1997 they inaugurated their Washington-based think tank “Project for the New American Century.”

On issues other than the Middle East, such as the environmental policies of the Kyoto Protocol and the supranational World Court, the Bush administration has been stridently defying not only the Europeans but also most of the rest of the world. Economically, Europe remains America’s main trading partner. That may change, however, as fast growing China and India, together with Japan and the rest of Asia, may overtake the European Common Market in the foreseeable future. Increasingly, Americans and Europeans compete with each other more in East and South Asia than anywhere else.

Today, over 3,900 million people comprise the Asian, 730 million the European market, and 297 million the U.S. market. It seems obvious that, at least economically, both Americans and Europeans have reason to be more interested in, and concerned about, Asia than in each other. Everywhere the non-Europeans are gaining ground. Even in the U.S. population projections indicate that while in 1980 about 80 percent of all Americans were of European origin, by 2020 that share will decline to 64 percent.

Wolf D. Fuhrig	Home	12-25-05
U.S. And Europe Drifting Apart
For 45 years, from 1945 to 1990, the Cold War linked the United States and Western Europe as strongly as never before ideologically, politically, and militarily. Whenever one crossed the Iron Curtain and experienced the totalitarian and militaristic tyranny that Leninism and Stalinism had imposed upon Russia and her satellites, one knew how fortunate one was to live in a country of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. We called it “The Free World,” even though that was somewhat of an overstatement in view of the growing liberalization of life in some countries outside the North Atlantic region. As soon as the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain disappeared, Europeans no longer needed the United States militarily. For Americans, the demise of the Soviet empire opened up resources to intensify the U.S. presence elsewhere on the globe. When in 2001 President George W. Bush and his neoconservative advisors, such as Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz, Feith, and Abrams, took charge of America’s foreign policy, they changed its agenda more drastically than most Americans and Europeans had expected. For the neo-cons, Europe was no longer the central stage of world politics. Following the wishes of their close friends in Israel’s Likud regime, the neo-cons persuaded the President to give the Middle East the highest priority, even ahead of East and South Asia. Rumsfeld publicly derided as “Old Europe” the Europeans that did not want to support the Bush-and-Blair foreign policy agenda. Israel’s right-wing regime wanted a United States that would tolerate the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and prevent Muslim governments from pressuring Israel into unwanted compromises on the future of Jerusalem and a Palestinian state. There were--and still are-- strong indications that Israel’s right wing also would like to see the existing regimes in Syria and Iran eliminated. Predominant popular opinion in all European countries strongly opposes the neo-con and the Likud agenda. Polls showed that a majority of Europeans wanted the United States to urge on all parties in the Middle East a comprehensive peace settlement with the hope that cooling off Middle East tensions would also reduce terrorism against Israel, the United States, and its allies. The leaders of Germany and France had no problem volunteering military forces to assist the United States in the elimination of Al Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The same leaders, however, did not see a necessity for hastily invading Iraq, as President Bush and Prime Minister Blair planned it. Ironically, in the meantime all of the governments that joined the U.S. coalition in Iraq are now under popular pressure to withdraw their contingents. Since the Second World War, the European democracies have always been more inclined toward diplomacy and multilateralism than the U.S. governments that wielded overwhelming military strength. The neo-cons in particular have been advocating unilateralist interventions abroad in pursuit of their imperialist temptations, ever since in 1997 they inaugurated their Washington-based think tank “Project for the New American Century.” On issues other than the Middle East, such as the environmental policies of the Kyoto Protocol and the supranational World Court, the Bush administration has been stridently defying not only the Europeans but also most of the rest of the world. Economically, Europe remains America’s main trading partner. That may change, however, as fast growing China and India, together with Japan and the rest of Asia, may overtake the European Common Market in the foreseeable future. Increasingly, Americans and Europeans compete with each other more in East and South Asia than anywhere else. Today, over 3,900 million people comprise the Asian, 730 million the European market, and 297 million the U.S. market. It seems obvious that, at least economically, both Americans and Europeans have reason to be more interested in, and concerned about, Asia than in each other. Everywhere the non-Europeans are gaining ground. Even in the U.S. population projections indicate that while in 1980 about 80 percent of all Americans were of European origin, by 2020 that share will decline to 64 percent.

Wolf D. Fuhrig

Home

12-25-05

U.S. And Europe Drifting Apart