So Condoleeza Rice was on my side of the Atlantic this past week, and the U.S. press was all a flutter about her heretofore unknown diplomatic skills. Anne Gearan, diplomatic writer for the AP said that Rice was upbeat about her visit and that she won "mostly good reviews" and quoted a Rice aid in saying that "both sides seem to have already begun to put the disagreements of the past behind us."
How nice. Knight-Ridder comments on Rice's "orchestra of discipline, with no time left unscheduled and no detail of diplomacy overlooked," in an effort to point out that if the European ties are not mended, it's certainly not her fault. After all, she works out.
Both The New York Times and The Washington Post declared that both Rice and Rumsfeld (!) have been making "overtures" to Europe for help in training Iraqi police forces. "Overtures" is another word for "demands" when diplomatic writers don't want to get calls from the White House.
Now you have to imagine my surprise in reading all of this as apparently the U.S. reporters know something I don't know: there are no Europeans in Europe.
Not a one, except for the Secretary General of NATO. He's it, people. I'm actually here by myself, which explains why the Metros are so empty. The speech in Paris was actually given to a group of American tourists on their way to see the Eiffel Tower. In all of the articles I've read, the success of Rice's trip was measured as a function of the quotes given by Rice and her aides. These reporters are in Europe and almost none of them deigned to ask any Europeans--official ones, never mind the European street--how they actually felt.
So allow me.
The Vancouver Sun had the audacity to point out that outside of the rebranding functions, in the areas of actual work that needed to be done--Europe aid on Iraq, a coalition to deal with Iran, arms sales to China--not a sliver of progress was made. Rice's interview on Fox News where she made tacit threats against Iran and Europe were not well-received, and Europe scoffed in her general direction over training more Iraqi cops on Iraqi soil.
Agence France Press echoed these disagreements, and also got into Rice's assertion that NATO won't be the "policeman of the world." This statement was viewed by many in European diplomatic circles as the U.S.'s continued requirement that only by way of U.S. leadership shall the world be changed. It was also picked up in Bahrain as a sign that the U.S. would continue it's go-it-alone adventures in the Middle East.
Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported that some European countries actually think for themselves and have no intention of kowtowing to the U.S. Gerhard Schroeder made this clear when he pointed out that "it's clear that our policy of self-confidence ... was right," and "I told our American friends clearly there is a line which I don't even think about crossing: German soldiers will not be in Iraq," He even threw in a shot about the elections, "The elections were progress--but only small progress."
The Daily Telegraph gave us this more complete quote of the famous "Dear Condi" line: "Our two countries, dear Condi, are each other's oldest allies ... I also think that alliance doesn't mean allegiance," The last part was more the focus here in Europe, with French diplomats rushing to point out that the U.S. and Europe, if they will proceed, will proceed together, not with Europe following. They praised Condi's style, if not the substance "The US has started to realise that the EU exists," said an EU diplomat. "But that's very far from having a complete convergence of views."
I could go on, but the bottom line is that from this side, things are not all rosy and "Dear Condi" and whatnot. People are pleased to have the charm offensive, and diplomats are making pleasant noises about having Bush address NATO in Brussels on the 22nd, but by and large Europeans don't give a damn about the White House's feeling that they now have a position of strength. The general sentiment is that Bush needs something and fine, we'll discuss it, but the White House is not to be trusted on matters of diplomacy.
Put another way, Europeans have not gotten over their disagreement with Washington because the disagreement has not gone away. The U.S. sees its unbridled power as a good thing and wields it in unruly and clumsy ways. Europe feels that this is a recipe for disaster, and while Americans see success in Iraq, Europe sees a generation more of conflict and the very real possibility of Iraq "electing" themselves a strongman. The papers here, when discussing Iraq, often point out Tehran's very skillful manipulation of the Shiite political players as a foreboding sign of what may be to come. Europe is vocally concerned about taking over operations in Iraq--as they have done in Afghanistan--and the U.S. declaring success and pulling out before any of the hard work is done.
Here, the major talk is of the European constitution, which Americans scoffed at, but then again, Americans scoffed at the Euro. Three countries have already ratified it, and parliamentary debates are to begin in earnest in 9 more this month and Spain is voting on the 20th. Seems like an unrelated process, but many diplomats and smart people see the U.S. status as "hyperpower" to be far more dangerous than they had thought. Even typically Europhobic Britain is signalling via the Blair government that they are serious about political consolidation with the continent. And even though everyone is concerned about Turkey, the bottom line is that in news analyses Turkey is seen as the final step in making Europe the "other pole" of global power, at least in the West.
(Turkey gives Europe a stronger foothold in negotiations with the Middle East, something that might even give them leverage over the U.S. in terms of influence. Economically speaking, they're dead weight but reforms are underway with help from Brussels and in a couple of years they might be at the level of an East Germany or a Hungary.)
So Europe is dealing with the Americans in typical Euro-realist fashion. American papers are all excited that "Dear Condi" and a newly victorious and magnanimous Cowboy may thaw the chilly trans-Atlantic relationship, but they ignore some important points. Namely that Europe has opened up diplomatic discussions with China, Iran, Cuba, and Russia all as a component of using soft power and influence to get those countries to change their undesirable policies. The U.S. is no different.
Europe's lessons from the Cold War have nothing to do with Reagan's "Take down this wall" speech, but with the Solidarity movement in Poland, strong political leadership from Czechoslovakia and Hungary, and Ostpolitik in Germany. To that end, they view diplomacy as paramount and will pursue it with the Americans, just like everyone else.
Don't get too excited over accounts of European swooning over Condi's shoes and piano recitals. This is European diplomacy at it's finest--making the other side think they've made progress when nothing actually happened.
De Tocqueville said: "Democratic peoples scarcely worry about what has been, but they willingly dream of what will be, and in this direction their imagination has no limits." Indeed, the Americans seem to forget that not long ago, they were trying to foment fractions in the continent, and used Europe as a convenient punching bag during the elections. Now, they see that they won, and all is well and Europe will go along and fall in line behind the great Crusading Cowboy.
The response to this idea is summed up best by an actual European diplomat: "Bush is making this magnanimous gesture in coming to Brussels. Wonderful. But we want Bush to change...It is not right
simply to say we will adapt our agenda to theirs."
American press, take note.
This is cross-posted at Czechedout.com
UPDATE: About my lousy netiqette in not linking to the stories...
I can't stay on for very long at a crack, and so the most convenient way for me to read the news is either to buy hard copies or to use lexis-nexis to download the full text, and then read offline. Either way, this doesn't give me a link. I'm not near my desk right now, but the next time I post, I'll be sure to cite my sources. Sorry for the confusion.