Much has been made of "American unilateralism" of late, particularly regarding the war in Iraq. We all know the war is not literally unilateral, although we also all know that the U.S. has called the shots, provided the vast majority of manpower and funding, and suffered a similar majority of coalition casualties.
But is there really a Great Rift with Europe? France, Germany and Russia know in their heart of hearts that a substantial reason why they opposed the war so vehemently is their own venal, and at least partially illegal, entanglements with the Saddam regime. But we can understand if not condone this because ALL countries, including if not especially the U.S., look out for their own economic interests first.
I do not believe our rift with Europe is particularly serious or insurmountable: we share too much and are too intertwined to go our separate ways, and there is too much at stake at this critical juncture in history. And although the U.S. truly IS the great melting pot with citizens and long-term visitors from every region and nation on earth, demographically we still ARE Europe more than anything else.
However, the perception of a rift can very easily harden into a true rift if we and the Europeans do not make concerted efforts — despite political pressures against such coziness on both sides of the Atlantic — to publicly focus on commonalities and areas of cooperation and not just carry out these realities underneath the radar.
Timothy Garton Ash, Oxford historian and mid-Atlantic commentator, addresses this vital topic in his new book Free World: America, Europe, and the Surprising Future of the West, the purpose of which he told the Boston Globe in an interview is to "chip away at the mind-walls of prejudice and constructed difference between Europe and America."
"Our present situation is simply far too dangerous to allow divisions between and within Western democracies to distract us from urgent crises in the Middle East, from global warming, and from crippling poverty and disease in the developing world. If we don't get these things right, the epitaph on the West's gravestone may read: 'They squabbled as the Earth burned.'
- IDEAS: You write of the US-Europe divide over Iraq as a "crisis of the West." Yet is it possible that Europeans have this sense of a crisis and Americans don't?
Article comments
1 - NC
I may have to pick up a copy because I'm intrigued by the title. Does Europe as we know it even exist in "the future of the West"? All the demographics I've seen point to a declining native population and a rising Muslim immigrant population. If, as Garton Ash worries, the world will be a more dangerous and nasty place in 20 years, that fact will probably have a lot more to do with birth rates and unassimilated cultures than American obstinance.
You're right, of course, Eric, to say that European nations are justified in in opposing the war in Iraq out of self-interest. My question is, aren't their short-term economic interests less important than the long-term demographic threat -- which really isn't so "long-term"? One would think they'd want to help us do something radical to change the political culture in the Middle East before the problem ends up on their own doorsteps. But so it goes. I tell you, though, I could really do without the lectures about unilateralism, etc, as they tend to ring a little hollow next to news stories about French troops machine-gunning civilians in the Ivory Coast.
Let me add in closing that I got a big kick out of Garton Ash's reference to Germany being "liberated" during WWII. How does that old Howard Jones song go? Oh, right -- "no one everrrrrrr is to blame".
2 - Eric Olsen
yes, it was liberated from itself, much as we are attempting in Iraq.
We will see more of hardening against anti-assimilation in Europe such as the French religious symbolism law and the anti-Islam general response to the Van Gogh murder
3 - urthshu
I'm not too sure the great rift is between the US and Europe, per se, but rather between the US & world opinion. Especially when focused through the lens of the UN.
4 - Eric Olsen
a big part of the problem is grandstanding for perceived political gain from all sides, including the U.S. - this is something that can and must be addressed for things to improve
5 - SFC Ski
Regarding the UN, the idea of a United Nations is a great one, in practice the UN is rather less useful, in fact it could be considered counterproductive and ineffectual in many ways.
6 - Mark Edward Manning
Eric: "we can understand if not condone this because ALL countries, including if not especially the U.S., look out for their own economic interests first."
That's exactly the point I tried to make about Russia's opposition to the war with this entry.