OP-ED: Obama & Europe’s Foreign Policy (Hindu Online, INDIA)

President-elect Barack Obama’s election to the American presidency does not solve western Europe’s conundrums over foreign policy but instead throws them into sharp relief. The issues are familiar enough. They include the role, possible expansion and general future of NATO, relations with Russia, all the problems arising from the war in Afghanistan and the continuing occupation of Iraq, and the challenge of global warming.

Mr. Obama’s general approach to European foreign policy issues is likely to be far more thoughtful and nuanced than the Manichaean, good-versus-evil, attitude that has permeated the Bush administration for all its eight years in office. Mr. Obama has also taken recent steps to counter criticism of his comparative neglect of a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee that he used to chair. He has maintained a high international profile since his election and worked hard to master the details of a range of international issues.

Nevertheless, the major western European states are no nearer to a judicious and united foreign policy than they were at the start of the Bush administration.

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