Moment of Consequence and Opportunity
As you know, the President is visiting Europe this week. Here are several worthwhile columns discussing the President’s visit.
Sebastion Mallaby, in the Washington Post, has an excellent opening paragraph. Unfortunately, from there Mallaby dives headlong into a pit of junk science, bad ideas and bad politics as he calls for the President to make nice with Europe on global warming, debt relief for Africa and the international criminal court. The great issues of our time are covered in the first paragraph, and if Europe is on the wrong side of them, why should the President compromise on his, and our, values.
Niall Ferguson, in the Guardian, explains the three issues that will prevent Europe and the US from "making nice" during the President’s visit. The first is Iraq, or more aptly, Europe’s (specifically France and Germany) refusal to take part in the liberation and securing of Iraq. Next up, Iran, or specifically Iran’s nuclear weapons program, human rights abuses and continued support of terrorism and Europe’s (the EU Three) attempts to bribe the Iranian’s into agreeing to greater transparency in its nuclear program. Add to that Russia’s role in developing Iran’s nuclear power facilities and continued confidence in the Mullah’s assertion that they have no nuclear weapons program or the Kremlin's tightened grip on the Russian political and economic system. And finally, the EU’s move to end its arms embargo on China, in place since 1989. We may like to think, as does no less than Ralph Peters, that China isn't on a war path, but the reality is that China isn't on a path of reform, and the embargo was laid as a result of their actions in Tiananmen Square.
Elaine Sciolino, in the New York Times, describes the difference between Europe and the U.S. from a values perspective, even if that may not have been the purpose of the article. Is it poverty that causes terrorism, or the lack of freedom and democracy? Europe thinks it is poverty. Just as they recognize Hezbollah as a political party in Lebanon but not as a terrorist organization, the Europeans are wrong.
Financial Times editors note that the significance of the effort, the historical precedent from Ronald Reagan, and the inevitable challenge in an effort to mend fences on issues that aren’t political.
Gerald Baker, an editor at the Times of London, and contributor to the Weekly Standard, has an excellent column on the President's visit. Read it alone, if you can't read the rest of these.
The President's initial speech in Brussels has been made. The transcript is available here. Or at the White House website where no registration is required. The title of this post comes from the speech.
I will have more as the week passes.
