America - The European dream

New Statesman ^ | October 25, 2004 | Lindsey Hilsum

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Foreign policy - Hopes that Kerry, with his fluent French, will take a more multilateral approach, are mistaken, argues Lindsey Hilsum

It is the first globalised US election. Non-voters of the world have united in their desperation to get rid of President Bush. In 30 out of 35 countries polled in a recent survey by the organisation Globescan, an overwhelming majority wanted John Kerry to win. Feeling was strongest in traditional US allies such as Germany and Norway. Only in Nigeria, the Philippines and Poland did a majority favour Bush.

The former French foreign minister Hubert Vedrine put it bluntly in Le Figaro on 16 October: "If the whole world was voting, John Kerry would be elected."

Yet according to Vedrine, a Kerry victory would make little difference, because American unilateralism was already resurgent under Bill Clinton. "It is pointless to dream of a multilateral America in the sense that Europeans today give to the word. Nor of a return to 'transatlantic values'," he wrote. Bush might be more overtly militaristic and ideologically driven, but to this way of thinking, all he has done is define and consolidate the identity America was already assuming as it forged its leadership in the post-cold war world.

Another French politician, Pierre Lellouche who - unlike Vedrine - has always been regarded as pro-American, writes: "I do not agree with the notion that the policies of George Bush are a temporary aberration. What's been happening in America for the past 15 years isn't neoconservatism but nationalism."

It was President Clinton, not President Bush, who spoke of America as the "essential nation". The concept of a "coalition of the willing" rather than a UN mandate was born in Kosovo, not Iraq. Transatlantic trade rows, fought out at the World Trade Organisation, were as fierce then as now. More than that, an increasing number of European thinkers point to the social divergence between America and Europe - they are becoming more God-fearing as we grow more secular; they believe in capital punishment while we think it's barbaric; they see owning guns as a human right and we see it as a sign of insanity. All of this plays into politics, and shows how difficult it would be for a Kerry administration to breach the gap between American voters and anxious bystanders elsewhere in the world.

John Kerry may speak fluent French and boast about his good relations with what Donald Rumsfeld called "Old Europe", but he is heading for an immediate clash with the countries which resisted the war in Iraq. He has told voters that, on assuming power, he would call a summit on Iraq and persuade European leaders to get more involved. As the kidnappings and murders of foreigners increase, and coalition forces fight an ever more bitter war, few European politicians are going to send their nationals to Iraq just to make a new American president happy.

"I don't believe that additional western European troops - French troops, German troops - will help to fix Iraq," said Joschka Fischer, the German foreign minister. "If America stays it will get worse, and if it leaves it will get worse."

In the Arab world, anti-Americanism extends far beyond Bush-bashing. Muslim intellectuals point to their own societies' praising of dictators and failure to modernise, but the less-educated majority simply watch the television, where they see Iraqis and Palestinians getting shot by Americans and Israelis.

It is hard to imagine how Kerry could invent a foreign policy so radical that those images would change.

When George W Bush told the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, that he would support the retention of major Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Kerry agreed with the policy. He has said that he would re-engage with the "peace process" - presumably the one that failed four years ago under President Clinton - but that would require talking to Yasser Arafat, which Kerry has said he would not countenance. It is entirely possible that, once in office, he would challenge the Israeli government, but there is nothing in Kerry's statements or voting record in the years before he became a presidential candidate which suggests any understanding of the Palestinians.

There would be some difference, the main one being style - and in diplomacy, style counts for something. Kerry would not have the brusque "you're with us or you're with the terrorists" approach favoured by Bush. Nor do his advisers have the same glint in their eye as Dick Cheney or Richard Perle, determined to impose US power through force. But some argue that the Bush doctrine has run its course - overstretched in Afghanistan and Iraq - and that in a second term he is unlikely to embark on militaristic adventures in Iran, Syria or other targeted countries. Bush might not be so bad, nor Kerry so good, as many Europeans predict.

Maybe the Europeans who are so keen to vote Bush out should think less about Washington and more about Brussels. Lellouche writes: "Relations with America will improve not if the Americans change, but if we Europeans change." Rather than whinge about how horrid Bush and his cohorts are, Europeans should accept US ideology and power and forge a real European identity and foreign policy as a counterbalance.

Then, at last, Europe could be a serious player in the Middle East and elsewhere, and force America to take it seriously. But that would be much more difficult than fantasising about casting our ballot in an election where we have no vote.

Lindsey Hilsum is diplomatic editor of Channel 4 News

[Cincinatus' Wife]

There is a bigger picture here that needs to be seen.

Bush and his administration see it.

Bush and the coalition have done great things in the Middle East.

All one has to do is look at a map to see how his strategy is working.

Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Kuwait, Turkey, Libya, Jordan, Qatar, etc ….

The PLO, Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia are getting a little outnumbered.

Changing some of the chess pieces in this age-old battle could bring people to the table and peace to the region.

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The Kerry Doctrine: Kerry's World: Father Knows Best

[bowzer313]

All of this palaver and blather about how the world hates the US and they all want a Kerry win is so pathetic and disgusting that I just shake my head and wish they'd all just drop dead!

The problem for America and Americans is that WE are smack dab in the middle of an entire world gone mad! None of these foreigners can point to a political model or economic success that they've ever created or implemented that suggests that their visions are superior to what we in the US have accomplished. And with the rise of killer Moslemism, whatever we all do, from here on out, is a holding action to forestall the inevitable final moment of Armageddon. And it will come!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

This colunm doesn't seem to care if Kerry wins.

The writer believes Europeans should do something about their own problems and stop focusing so much on us.

[SaintDismas]

Thanx for posting the map. I've never been good at geography (I still need labels for those foreign states in the northern parts of Murca, LOL)

Studying the map makes Bush look like a genius. A successful democratic Iraq has Syria and Iran surrounded....

[Cincinatus' Wife]

A successful democratic Iraq has Syria and Iran surrounded....

You got it!

And there is a strong pro-democracy oppositon in Iran.

As democracy and liberty begins to spread, terrorists will have fewer places to hide and fewer people to convert.

[MissAmericanPie]

Four years ago I was toasted a golden brown for laying out evidence that Germany and France are not allies. Europe is stagnating and collapsing together into the entity called the E.U. for strength.

The fact is, as allies we have come to a fork in the road, Europe is going left and we, hopefully, take the right. Europe is heading towards secular totalitarianism, we must not, cannot follow.

The most that we can hope for in the future, with Europe, is distance. I see America being isolated from the rest of the world as a good thing, given the direction the rest of the world is headed for, right off a cliff.

I'm sure many of us remember our Mother's admonitions about a best friend she didn't like, "If she/he jumps off a cliff, will you follow?" America must decide that the answer is no, socialism has to go in the USofA. Socialism, the bed fellow of totalitarianism, should be made to feel as welcome as a skunk at a Church picnic.

[lillybet]

Cant you round up these people who come on your TV they seem to think that being not liked unpopular abroad, is more important, they think being popular and dead, would be a good idea.

[rudypoot]

Rather than whinge about how horrid Bush and his cohorts are, Europeans should accept US ideology and power and forge a real European identity and foreign policy as a counterbalance.

Foreign policy = US counterbalance. The european pursuit of power is unquenchable. It was the only real reason to create the EU in the first place. Specifically, the French think they should be a world leader because they think their culture is superior and their only motive is political power.

What has really got France's goat is that now they are the US culture is sufficating theirs to the point that they are opening complaining about it. Hell, they even want to make French the legal language of the EU.

Actually I see some sort of parallel between the US/EU and our presidential election.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Exactly!

They want us to join them. They don't want us showing them. They don't want us spending our money on defense when we should be spending it on social programs. They encourage us join them in their their sloth, in their decline.

Americans just aren't cut from that cloth.

At least 50+% of us aren't.

We have to educate our children or the rest of the country will follow Europe.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

They really have a problem with their identity.

They're so fixated on us and so unsure of themselves.

Maybe if they'd had to dig themselves out from under Hitler, they would have more character and self confidence.

You know, I'd like to see the EU get one vote at the U.N. just like the U.S.

[Psycho_Bunny]

...traditional US allies such as Germany...

Huh?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

***More than that, an increasing number of European thinkers point to the social divergence between America and Europe - they are becoming more God-fearing as we grow more secular; they believe in capital punishment while we think it's barbaric; they see owning guns as a human right and we see it as a sign of insanity. All of this plays into politics, and shows how difficult it would be for a Kerry administration to breach the gap between American voters and anxious bystanders elsewhere in the world. ***

Bump!

[JSteff]

---As democracy and liberty begins to spread, terrorists will have fewer places to hide and fewer people to convert.

Sure they do... all of Africa, much of South America.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Yes it is a big job.

But what better things do we have to do?

[ArGee]

The problem for America and Americans is that WE are smack dab in the middle of an entire world gone mad!

America finds itself in the role that Gary Cooper played in the western classic, "High Noon."

The bad guys are coming for us. They are clearly bad and need to be eliminated. We go to our friends and neighbors for help. They tell us, "We can't take the risk. Why don't you just run and hide?"

Cooper stood tall and defeated the ciminals with a few stalwart friends. After he had won, all the townspeople wanted to congratulate him. He just crushed his tin star under his heel and turned his back on them.

We will do the same, with the help of Britain, Australia, Poland, and several other countries that George Bush appreciates and John Kerry doesn't even see.

The rest can thank us later or not as they see fit. I don't think they will want to extend the hand of friendship too quickly, however.

Shalom.

[Fenris6]

"I just shake my head"

They're just following their weasel form - did the same thing to Churchill. Wanted to appease Hitler at any price, slandered Winston as a war-mongerer while Germany enslaved the Czechs (who had the 4th largest Army on the Contintent at the time).

[Fenris6]

"Socialism, the bed fellow of totalitarianism, should be made to feel as welcome as a skunk at a Church picnic"

Agreed. Socialism devolves into corruption and tyranny. Every. Single. Time.

Our true enemy is the multi-lateralist elites at the UN who would supplicate us to global socialism.

[MissAmericanPie]

Our true enemy is in the gates, they are called Democrats.