EU-DIGEST

Europe Warily Eyes Window of Opportunity in Cuba

Louis Michel, the European Commissioner for Development and Aid, leads an EU delegation to Cuba on Thursday, Feb. 6, to assess the political climate after the retirement of President Fidel Castro. When Fidel Castro stepped down as president of Cuba last month after 49 years in power, the main question asked by the international community was whether democratic change could be expected in the wake of his abdication. A European Union delegation travels to Havana this week to see for itself if a new climate exists where normalized ties and engagement can survive.

Labels: Cuba, Diplomacy, EU

Latvia expels diplomat of Russian Federation Embassy

Viktor Kalyuzhniy, Ambassador of the Russian Federation, was summoned before Edgars Skuja, Acting Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Acting Secretary of State issued the Ambassador with a note stating that, on the basis of information provided by appropriate state security authorities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has established that one of the diplomatic staff of the Embassy of the Russian Federation has been engaged in activities incompatible with his status as diplomat and that his residence in Latvia poses a threat to state security. In accordance with Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has declared the diplomat persona non grata.

Labels: Diplomacy, EU, Latvia, Russia

Remember him? Bush begins Middle East tour - Leonard Doyle and Andrew Buncombe

Voters in the United States may have switched their attention to the contest to find his successor, but George Bush will embark on an ambitious nine-day tour of the Middle East tomorrow in a last desperate effort to salvage a legacy from two terms in office overshadowed by a catastrophic foreign policy that has earned him the distinction of being one of the worst presidents in the country's history. The Bush legacy will not be peace in the Middle East nor an end to conflict in Iraq, but it could be a political earthquake among voters so dismayed by the mess he has made of America's foreign policy and fearful of economic recession that they are deserting his party in droves. As he prepares to board a plane for Israel and wrap himself in the tattered flag of victory in Iraq, Mr Bush's real legacy to the American people is evident in the disillusionment on display in New Hampshire. Enraged Republicans are switching sides to support the Democrat Barack Obama. Others are backing Mike Huckabee, the maverick Christian conservative hopeful.

Labels: Bush, Diplomacy, Middle East, US

USA/EU: The Case for restraint - by Barry R.Posen

Since the end of the Cold War, the American foreign policy establishment has gradually converged on a grand strategy for the United States. Republican and Democratic foreign policy experts now disagree little about the threats the United States faces and the remedies it should pursue. Despite the present consensus and the very great power of the United States, which mutes the consequences of even Iraq-scale blunders, a reconsideration of U.S. grand strategy seems inevitable as the costs of the current consensus mount—which they will. The current consensus strategy is unsustainable.

Labels: Diplomacy, EU, US

Why Pax Americana is failing everybody - by David Olive

Its global ubiquity has bred regional resentment toward the U.S.. It too often has yielded unsatisfactory outcomes. And it is an increasingly perilous burden on the American people. The U.S. tab for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan is officially placed between $2.4 trillion (U.S.) and $3.5 trillion (U.S.), depending on the duration of those obligations. To put that in perspective, as recently as 2000 the national debt accumulated during the entire history of the republic was about $5 trillion (U.S.). In a well-reasoned essay titled "The Case for Restraint" in the November-December edition of The American Interest, U.S. political scientist Barry Posen grades America's persistent attempts to impose its vision on the world. "Since the end of the Cold War 16 years ago, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have been running an experiment with U.S. grand strategy," writes Posen, the Ford International Professor of Political Science and director of the security studies program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"The theory to be tested has been this: Very good intentions, plus very great power, plus action can transform both international politics and the domestic politics of other states in ways that are advantageous to the United States, and at costs it can afford. The evidence is in: The experiment has failed. Transformation is unachievable, and costs are high."

Labels: Diplomacy, Political, US

U.S. friends and foes grabbing power - are they following US example? by Helen Thomas

While President Bush has been distracted with his unpopular war against Iraq, friends and foes are busy grabbing power to perpetuate themselves in office. Among them are Gen. Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan; Russian President Vladimir Putin; Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia. There is little the United States can do about the drift toward authoritarian rule.

Bush -- with pressure from his neo-conservative vice president and staff -- has himself expanded presidential power in the name of the "war on terror." The power grab-bag of the US Bush administration extends from its warrantless wire tapping to the president's outrageous abuse of "signing statements" that he issues when putting his signature on new legislation; the statements are his claims that he won't be bound by certain sections of the bill he just signed into law. His decision to name as attorney general retired federal judge Michael Mukasey -- who believes the president is above the law in wartime -- is good insurance for Bush's power surge. Unfortunately, Bush's actions show that America is not in a prime position to preach to friends and foes about abuse of power (or democracy for that matter).

Labels: Diplomacy, USA