[Article] Such United States soldiers as are left in Europe, are here, not for our defence, but to support their operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I say that the article's writer, Paddy Ashdown, errs on this point. The U.S. will always have an Atlantic-centered policy because the country has always had as its key foreign-policy and defense value the protection of its large East Coast population centers from attack, and the large trans-Atlantic trade, which by the way has included a really big chunk of the trade in imported energy.
It's also curious that the writer foresees the growth of protectionist economic policies. Exporting economies have generally been free-traders, as was the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries. The U.S. persists in free-trading, even though it's an importer now.
Therefore, with the rise of Asian exporting economies, I don't see where the author's predicted boom in protectionism will come from.
It's also interesting that this article appeared in a Pakistani newspaper.
well if the writer refers to the troops in Germany for example he is correct saying that they are not there to protect anyone but most of this “report” is just total wrong (to say it polite :-) The US will no longer have a euro centric policy? and so will Europe the other way around? Shuuuure ;-) this writer just ignores such little facts that only for example the US and Europes economys are tied so close together that this is just not possible without resulting in a total desaster for both. so i guess this will not happen.