"Will Europe and Russia seek to check U.S. power?"
Printed on Monday, May 12, 2003 {at} 00:00:26 CDT

Power and Interest News Report (PINR) 

(PINR) -- Now that the United States has expressed its desire to 
weaken the United Nations politically and to create a new world order in 
which the U.S. can become the sole, unrestrained power in the world, it 
will be important to watch how Europe responds. Prior to the war in Iraq, 
the European states of France and Germany were unwilling to support a 
U.S. led invasion. With the weight of the Security Council behind these 
two states, governments around the world watched to see if the U.S. 
would defy the United Nations and thus upset the balance of world 
order. The Bush administration decided to attack Iraq without U.N. 
support, which sent ominous signals throughout the world that the U.S. 
would no longer be restrained by the decrees of the U.N.  

In this new state of affairs, the U.S. will continue to stand unchallenged 
on the world stage until another state or group of states attempts to 
check its power. As of now, no such entity exists, and the members of 
the Bush administration have taken note of this situation and are thus 
pushing U.S. interests on the world. Because the U.S. wields an 
abundance of economic and military power, other powerful states are 
hesitant to stray too far from U.S. interests. China, for example, has the 
potential to check U.S. power; however, its growth potential is reliant on 
good relations with Washington. Because of the Sino-U.S. relationship, 
it will be France, Germany and Russia that will most likely be able to 
check U.S. power.  

The major power brokers within the European Union -- France and 
Germany -- are unhappy with the recent changes in world order. Until 
recently, France was able to influence global relations through its 
permanent member status in the United Nations Security Council. Now, 
with the U.S. replacing the U.N. as the formal center of world order, 
France's power on the world stage has been greatly diminished, if not 
eradicated altogether. Germany is also unhappy with the United States 
limiting the power of Europe so it can become a global hegemon. 
Russia, like France, has a permanent seat on the U.N. Security 
Council; due to Washington's weakening of the U.N., Russia also 
lost considerable power in global affairs. For these reasons, 
France, Germany and Russia took a strong stance against a U.S. 
attack on Iraq.  

But now there are signs that these states are willing to put up 
even more resistance. On April 29, the leaders of France, Germany, 
Belgium and Luxembourg agreed to work towards a European Security 
and Defense Union by the end of 2004. As part of this union, the 
four member states would combine resources to create a rapid reaction 
force capable of preventing conflicts and managing military problems 
anywhere in the world. Furthermore, this force would be commanded by 
an independent E.U. military command center just outside Brussels. 
Such a force, as stated by French President Jacques Chirac, is 
necessary in order to create "balance." Chirac added, "We need a 
stronger European Union and a strong United States."  

Even more groundbreaking is the recent statements by the defense 
ministers of both France and Russia in which they announced mutual 
intensified military cooperation and joint weapons production. 
Encouraged by Washington's decision to attack Iraq, both Paris and 
Moscow had increased political and diplomatic cooperation in recent 
months. Military collaboration between the major power brokers of 
the European Union and Russia could work to weaken U.S. global power. 
The advanced states of the European Union, combined with Russia's 
nuclear capability, could act to counter unrestrained U.S. power. 
This chain of events would provide the most credible restraint to 
current U.S. foreign policy aspirations and once again establish a 
world order that relies on balance, rather than one superpower with 
unilateral ambitions.  

Still, there are several potential obstacles to such an alliance. 
The European Union is far from united; after announcing their plan 
to build an independent E.U. military command center, the E.U. states 
of Britain, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands all detached themselves 
from this proposition. Other European member states have reacted coolly. 
This lack of cooperation is due to most European member states' 
unwillingness to distance themselves politically too far from the United 
States. The massive economic, political and military power the U.S. 
wields causes most European member states to find their interests best 
served by the United States, rather than the central powers of the 
European Union. Until relations with the central powers of the European 
Union are more appealing than relations with the United States, 
European member states will continue to attempt to keep good relations 
with both the central E.U. states and certainly the United States.  

Russia finds itself in a similar predicament. Moscow still looks to the 
United States to help it succeed in the world of globalization and free 
trade capitalism. Russia has been waiting for the U.S. to lift Cold War-
era trade restrictions; moreover, Russia also wants acceptance into the 
World Trade Organization. Therefore, Russia finds that its national 
interests lie in good relations with the United States; this political 
reality has kept Russia from swaying too far away from U.S. interests. 
Furthermore, as in the case of pro-U.S. European states, Russia does 
not yet feel that an alliance with central E.U. states such as France 
and Germany would be more beneficial than an alliance with the United 
States.  

But due to quick developments that often emerge on the global scene, 
the relations between these states could quickly change. If the U.S. 
takes further action that threatens European and Russian interests, 
the U.S. could unwillingly push these former hegemonic states into 
an alliance that will work to check U.S. power abroad.  

Erich Marquardt drafted this report. 

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Source: Power and Interest News Report / Yellow Times .....
http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1340&mode=thread&order=0

Cheers, Steve..

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