Europe Talks Back

George W. Bush's European trip came at a time when American policy-makers, who once dismissed the European Union for its weakness and indecision on the world stage, are worrying about Europe's more assertive foreign policy. More than once this year, Washington has found itself upstaged as Europe showed itself willing and able to defy Washington on behalf of the larger global interest--organizing international opposition to the White House's repudiation of the Kyoto accords and taking it upon itself to keep the prospects of detente alive on the Korean peninsula, not to mention the role it played in voting the United States off the United Nations Human Rights Commission and its International Narcotics Control Board.

Still, the real danger is not a European-American divide, as serious as that would be, but a Europe that reverts to its old docile self when faced with Bush Administration pressure, …

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: Europe Talks Back. Contributors: Not available. Magazine title: The Nation. Volume: 273. Issue: 1 Publication date: July 2, 2001. Page number: 3. © 1999 The Nation Company L.P. COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group.

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