BRUSSELS: Four months after Europe and Russia rallied behind President George W. Bush over the Sept 11 attacks on the US, the Atlantic gap is widening again as Washington opts increasingly to go it alone. European officials who had hoped the spontaneous outpouring of allied solidarity after the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon would convince the Republican administration of the benefits of multilateral engagement are disenchanted.
“We thought they were correcting a unilateralist trend when they put together a coalition to fight terrorism, but now we see the forces for going it alone are very much in the ascendant in the Bush administration,” one EU official said. A NATO diplomat seasoned in managing transatlantic relations said: “Hopes for a conversion to multilateralism haven’t materialised. On the contrary, the United States feels strong enough to define its own rules and hand-pick its partners.”
Some European analysts believe the “continental drift” that seemed to be driving America and Europe apart before Sept 11 is resuming after an interlude of togetherness. They cite US disregard for arms control, the declining importance of NATO, the way Washington brushed aside European offers of help in its war in Afghanistan, except for Britain’s, and talk in Washington of extending military action to Iraq.
Trade friction is resurfacing over US export subsidies, steel, hormone-treated beef and genetically modified food, although experts say it is no worse than usual. Some European officials see a new transatlantic division of labour in the making, in which Washington hands more responsibility for European security to the European Union while it concentrates on the global fight against terrorism.
But the Europeans may not endorse US priorities. Europeans want to seize the opportunity to draw Russia into closer partnership with the West, give Middle East peacemaking greater priority and work on stabilising the Balkans. The US seems keener on fresh military action in Somalia or Yemen, or possibly against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
“There could be a kind of dialogue of the deaf between the Americans and the Europeans over the international agenda,” the NATO official said. Public perceptions of the war against terrorism are once again diverging on opposite sides of the Atlantic.
Many Europeans consider the military phase of the campaign almost over, now that Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have been ousted and Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network has been decimated and robbed of its Afghan base. But polls show most Americans share Bush’s view that the battle has only just begun. The “values gap” on issues such as the death penalty and climate change seems wider than ever.
“Sept 11 reminded us of our shared values, civilisation and interests in hard times,” said French strategic analyst Gilles Andreani. “But now concern is growing again about the international attitude of the United States.” Europeans had a broadly negative view of Bush when he took office a year ago as what the British weekly The Economist called “the accidental president”.
An early transatlantic row after he pulled the US out of the Kyoto Treaty to combat global warming, and European concern about the new administration’s zeal for missile defence, appeared to confirm a growing estrangement. European governments liked Secretary of State Colin Powell’s consensus-building diplomacy but were dismayed at the unilateral instincts of Defence Department leaders keen to scrap arms control treaties and build an anti-missile shield.
Bush’s two trips to Europe last June and July only partially allayed those worries. The president impressed European leaders with his charm, directness and commitment to free trade, but he was unyielding on climate change and missile defence, and unwilling to use US leverage over Israel to press for Middle East peace talks. Sept 11 appeared, for a while, to change all that. European leaders rushed to the US to declare their total solidarity. The allies lauded Bush’s cool-headed response to the deadly suicide attacks, choosing to build a coalition in support of military action rather than lashing out immediately.
Many see Powell as increasingly lonely in an administration dominated by hawks emboldened by the Afghan campaign, which has been almost casualty-free for US forces. “Powell looks isolated. There would be a real crisis if he were to resign,” said Charles Grant, director of the London-based Centre for European Reform think-tank.
Grant said he doubted that even British prime minister Tony Blair had much influence in internal US policy debates. “We will continue to try to keep the Bush administration engaged in issues that are important to us. We hope they will still listen,” he added.—Reuters