csmonitor.com: Why Europe, US differ on Mideast - by Howard LaFranchi
Why Europe, US differ on Mideast - by Howard LaFranchi
The cracks separating the US and Europe are appearing along many of the same fault lines - the use of force, the impact of warfare on civilians, the definition of terrorism - that were exposed after 9/11 and the debate over war in Iraq. Those schisms had begun closing over the past year - especially with dogged effort by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - but are reemerging under the pressure of another Mideast war. "The willingness or refusal to engage your adversaries speaks to a larger difference, and it starts with the fact that the US, and this administration, tend to have a black-and-white view of the world," says Charles Kupchan, professor of American foreign policy at Georgetown University in Washington.
One result is the current difference over what has to come first in any settlement of the Israel-Hizbullah conflict. The US is pressing for an international force to be set up before Israel is compelled to stop its drive against Hizbullah. The Europeans want the fighting on both sides to stop first. The differences between the US and Europe are more than a mere dispute over "sequencing." They reflect distinct perspectives on force and the use of warfare, experts say.
"The Europeans have suffered tremendously with war, so their instinct is to stop the fighting," says Jeswald Salacuse, a specialist in international conflict resolution at Tufts University's Fletcher School in Medford, Mass. "They don't see it resolving a crisis, but exacerbating things."
