The Crisis In The West
So much for what the United States needs to do. As Ronald Reagan liked to remind us, it takes two to tango. Europeans love to criticize the United States. They are much less good at offering alternatives. To correct this, Europe should prepare a set of its own proposals by 2008 on at least a half-dozen key issues. If Europe doesn't want to bomb Iran, it should figure out how to stop Iran from getting the bomb. If Europe wants collective action on climate change, it should figure out how to make that happen. The same goes for Russia, world trade talks, a peace settlement between Israel and Palestine, long-term change in the Middle East and a strategy for preventing the dangerous radicalization of young Muslims. Europe cannot go on just asking the right questions. It needs to start offering some answers of its own.
Garton Ash is professor of European Studies at Oxford University, a senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and the author of “Free World.”
© 2007
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Member Comments
Posted By: nawawimohamad @ 01/25/2008 2:55:01 AM
Comment: The analysis by Mr. Ash and comments posted are all antagonistic in nature. Why? Not only that, there is also a sense of dominance over the lesser. But the fact remains that whatever relationships between the US, Europe and the rest of the world are determined by the lobbyists and not the voters.
Posted By: t_thibaud @ 12/18/2007 4:07:37 PM
Comment: "The transatlantic relationship needs to be fundamentally redesigned for the 21st century. This will mean going back to basics, asking, what are the real global challenges of our time?"
OK, let's look at those. #1 is managing the rise of China and integrating it into the international state system as a responsible player. #2 is ensuringa stable international trade and finance regime, the anchor of which is the US-CHina relationship. #3 is reducing carbon emissions by China, which will soon overtake the US in this department, and by the US. #4 is creating a new collective security framework to manage the nuclear powers of Northeast Asia, South Asia and (soon, in Iran) Southwest Asia. #5 is preventing meltdown in Pakistan and a reversion to anarchy in neighboring Afghanistan.
Hmmm... I don't see any area here where the transatlantic alliance is crucial. in the only areas where there has been close collaboration between the US and Europe-- on Iran diplomacy and the Afghan war-- the record is dismal. The EU-3's carrots-and-more-carrots approach to Iran has failed. Witha few noble exceptions, the NATO allies aren't even pulling their weight in Afghanistan, the "good war."
I do indeed see a world that ceased to be Euro-centric at least a decade ago, one in which almost all of the major threats and opportunities arise within the arc that stretches from Moscow to Tehran to New Delhi, Beijing and Tokyo.
ASIAN CENTURY NOW. Look East, Americans. And quit wasting so much bandwidth on the last century's allies, who can neither help nor hinder us much in those Asian theatres that really matter for us in this century.
Posted By: jpaol @ 12/17/2007 1:49:54 PM
Comment: Heartland America hates the people of Europe because they don't share their values. To the typical Texan or Kansan, Europeans are atheist Islamophiles who worship at the altar of Charles Darwin. And, socialism--Americans believe that Europe is wallowing in socialism.