Posted by Editors in
Transatlantic Relations on Wednesday, July 2. 2008
As part of a media partnership with Blogactiv, we are cross-posting this book review by Stanley Crossick:
 "America Between the Wars: From 11/9 to 9/11", by Derek Chollet and James Goldgeier, is an interesting read, in particular in highlighting the continuities of policies of the Clinton and George W Bush Administrations.
American exceptionalism is alive and well in both parties as can be seen from the speeches of both Senators McCain and Obama. The authors argue that President Clinton and Madeleine Albright, his Secretary of State, shared common ground on many policies with the Project for a New American Century, a neo-con organisation, including NATO enlargement and the Balkans. And both opposed any isolationist tendencies and the US turning its back on global problems. Both believe in the "indispensable nation" (a phrase coined by Albright) with a unique role to play in the world. Both believe in democracy promotion.
These conclusions no doubt upset many red and blue politicians but it is timely to express them. There is a danger in believing that all will be well after 4 November and EU-US relations will resume where they left off. However, this is not so. Deep foreign policy differences divide the Atlantic and we need to address these frankly together. The gulf in understanding between Americans and Europeans cannot be bridged if its width is underestimated.
Finally and frighteningly, the authors point out that from 1989 to 2001, the United States averaged one large-scale military intervention every 18 months.
Posted by Joerg Wolf in
Transatlantic Relations on Wednesday, July 2. 2008
Posted by Joerg Wolf in
Transatlantic Relations on Tuesday, July 1. 2008
"The United States is simply becoming more irrelevant" to Europeans, writes Ellen Creager in Detroit Free Press:
The United States is barely mentioned on TV news networks like the BBC, Sky News, Deutsche Welt, or in newspapers, but when it is, it is with condescension. I’m not sure why, but it’s a big change from a few years ago. I can feel it: The United States is losing — or has lost — its mojo in Europe. Fewer people care what we’re doing or why. Fewer people look up to us. Our reputation is as low as the value of a dollar here, and that’s pretty low.
I don't quite agree with the analysis, but I love the mojo headline.
Another good headline I am nuts about is: "It’s Not About the T Shirts," which serves to draw attention to a Newsweek article by Matt Frei, chief anchor of BBC World News America. He argues that "Europeans should beware the perils of Obamamania."
Posted by Joerg Wolf in
Transatlantic Relations on Tuesday, July 1. 2008
Spiegel International:
Barack Obama, the man most Europeans would like to see elected the next US president, plans to visit Berlin, Paris and London soon. The Democratic candidate is looking for statesmanlike images to boost his campaign and German politicians will be hoping some of his popularity rubs off on them.
Most Germans usually prefer Democrats over Republicans, but conservative US presidents tend to be better for Germany, opines Thomas Speckmann, a regular op-ed contributor for various German newspapers and magazines. He also points out that greater German military involvement will be expected, regardless of who is elected. See his op-ed on Atlantic-community.org.
Speckmann is not the only pundit going against the mainstream opinion in his home country: Parag Khanna from the New America foundation argues that despite the Irish no vote, the EU will lead the world on security, trade and climate change. The EU is setting standards for other regions around the world. Thus this will be Europe's Century.
Posted by Joerg Wolf in
Transatlantic Relations on Monday, June 30. 2008
On Saturday, Berlin will celebrate Independence Day and the return of the American Embassy to the famous Pariser Platz with the grand "Amerikafest 2008," which will take place where the German soccer fans celebrate their team today...
The festivities are organized by the The Federation of German-American Clubs e.V. (in German), which describes the event as an occasion to discover many aspects of American culture, from politics to sport and entertainment.
I will be there from noon until 6:00 PM as part of my day job at the Atlantische Initiative e.V. We have a stand on Pariser Platz (on the Eastern side of the Brandenburg Gate). See our announcement: Meet the atlantic-community.org Editorial Team at the Amerikafest!
Anybody planning on coming? Write a comment or send me an email.
Posted by Joerg Wolf in
Transatlantic Relations on Friday, June 27. 2008
Okay, the headline is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but not entirely unwarranted:
The Economist reports about the novelties in the new French defense review. The white paper defines France's "first formal national security strategy, to be overseen by a new national security council." That sounds very American, does not it? There will also be a new national intelligence co-ordinator, answering to the president, just like in the US. And, the white paper approves France's reintegration into NATO's military command structure.
The Atlantic Community has published a transatlantic press round-up about France's Adoption of a Multilateral Defense Policy.
Posted by Nanne Zwagerman in
Transatlantic Relations on Wednesday, June 25. 2008
In reaction to a previous post about the boring, technical nature of transatlantic economic cooperation, Atlantic Review reader John in Michigan made the important point that "the political process requires an engaged citizenry to function well. Any topic or area that an ordinary citizen would rightly find dull, doesn't belong in politics".
Transatlantic economic cooperation is a process that produces winners and losers and thereby has political implications. As it deals with economic relations between the world's two largest economies by far, these implications will likely prove to be significant. The cooperation process, however, is technical to a degree where the political implications are likely to be registered late, and to lead to oblique reactions.
At the core, being 'dull but important' is a dilemma, which has to be solved by making transatlantic economic cooperation more interesting. This could for instance be done by clarifying the political implications of very technical issues like eliminating 'non-tariff barriers'. That, however, is a very difficult analysis to make, and will be contested.
Another solution is to make the issue more interesting by addressing more strategic and political issues. That is the proposal of Henning Meyer of the Social Europe Blog, in a policy paper written for the Global Policy Institute.
Continue reading "Making Transatlantic Economic Cooperation More Interesting"
Posted by Editors in
Transatlantic Relations on Tuesday, June 24. 2008
"Most European military sites equipped with US nuclear weapons fail to meet Pentagon security requirements, according to a US Air Force study." reports Reuters:
Hans Kristensen, director of the [Federation of American Scientists'] Nuclear Information Project, said the security problems occurred at installations operated by the national militaries of Germany, Belgium, Holland and Italy, all NATO members. About 200 to 350 nuclear weapons are believed to be stored at the sites.
"What's really going on here is that the United States has changed its standards (since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States), but NATO has not followed and it's at the national bases we're seeing this problem," Kristensen said on Monday.
"In a way, it's the United States knocking on NATO's door and saying: 'C'mon, guys, you need to upgrade, too.'"
Though, rather than calling for such security upgrades of military sites, many German politicians call for the removal of US nuclear weapons from German soil. Our reader Zyme writes this guest post:
Continue reading "US Nukes not Secure in Europe"
Posted by Nanne Zwagerman in
Transatlantic Relations on Monday, June 23. 2008
Thomas P.M. Barnett has a column in the Knoxville News Sentinel in which he reports on the mood of government officials in the Netherlands. There are a lot of interesting angles in the article -- for instance on McCain's 'League of Democracies', which the Dutch do not appreciate, and on European worries about trade rhetoric by Obama, which would be overblown as Obama is pivoting to the centre faster than the eye can see.
These, however, are the article's key paragraphs:
But here's what I found during my week in The Hague: the Dutch aren't convinced that America plus Europe translates into a quorum that's sufficient to tackle all the challenges we collectively face.
In almost every issue you can name, Europe's coming to the conclusion that the West needs the East to figure out the South, as well as our shared future on this increasingly crowded and competitive planet.
It should be borne in mind that the Dutch are one of the most atlanticist nations of Europe in their outlook. Public thinkers from the States like Barnett quite frequently get an ear from the Dutch government. Yet, they have gone global. The Dutch - and the Europeans in general - do not see the 'west' as sufficient anymore, either in terms of its power or in terms of its legitimacy.
Posted by Joerg Wolf in
US Domestic and Cultural Issues on Sunday, June 22. 2008
"Americans are increasingly choosing to live among like-minded neighbours. This makes the culture war more bitter and politics harder," writes The Economist Residential segregation is not the only force Balkanising American politics, frets Mr Bishop. Multiple cable channels allow viewers to watch only news that reinforces their prejudices. The internet offers an even finer filter. Websites such as conservativedates.com or democraticsingles.net help Americans find ideologically predictable mates. And the home-schooling movement, which has grown rapidly in recent decades, shields more than 1m American children from almost any ideas their parents dislike.
Why is this voluntary segregation bad for politics? Because:
Continue reading "Political Segregation Increases Culture Wars in America"
Posted by Nanne Zwagerman in
European Issues on Friday, June 20. 2008
Guardian correspondent Jonathan Steele has an interesting piece about the different significance Lithuania attaches to the victims of Communism and of Nazism. He describes walking through the 'Museum of Genocide Victims':
But as I moved from room to dismal room, I had a growing sense something was missing. Vilnius was once known as the Jerusalem of the North. What about the Jews? Did their fate not merit remembrance? In a corridor I eventually found a placard with a brief, though telling, mention. It gave estimates for the victims of Lithuania's Soviet occupation and of the Nazi one as well. The number summarily shot, or who died in prison and during deportation in the Soviet period, reached 74,500. During three years of Nazi rule from June 1941, those killed amounted to 240,000, "including about 200,000 Jews". It is worth noting that this is a general issue throughout the former communist countries of Europe. It is not hard to predict that countries will tend to play up their own victimhood and not discuss their complicity in a genocide. This was also the initial reaction of the West European countries that were occupied by the nazis. Over time, however, that has been replaced by a more critical narrative.
Posted by Joerg Wolf in
Transatlantic Relations on Friday, June 20. 2008
The Atlantic Community think tank recommends a daily selection of five commentaries from leading international newspapers. Here are the best from last week:
Time Magazine: US Nukes Are Not Secure in Europe
Die Welt: Bush Leaving Means no More Teasing
Die Zeit: It is Not Only Bush Who Was the Wrong Guy
The Economist: Iraq Starts to Fix Itself
Nicolas D. Kristof: "Israelis Helped Create Hezbollah and Hamas"
Madeleine Albright: No More Humanitarian Interventions
Joseph Nye: Chindia: A Rare Success of the Bush Era
The daily Top Press Commentary Section is featured in the top left corner of atlantic-community.org
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franchie about The United States is Losing its Mojo
OK, I remove the words, not my feelings
Joerg - Atlantic Review about The United States is Losing its Mojo
[b]@ Franchie "your fuckin borin" Atlantic Review is the wrong place for such [...]
Pamela about US Foreign Policy From 11/9 to 9/11
Bear in mind that 4 of those deployments were in the Balkans And the First Gulf [...]
Pamela about US Foreign Policy From 11/9 to 9/11
"Finally and frighteningly, the authors point out that from 1989 to 2001, the United [...]
Joe Noory about US Foreign Policy From 11/9 to 9/11
WHat's actually frightening about it, is that most of the world is so passive and [...]
Joe Noory about The United States is Losing its Mojo
You're so effete, and you can spell too! I guess you'll alaways be that fish that [...]
franchie about The United States is Losing its Mojo
your fuckin borin