Sunday, Apr 21, 2002
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By Batuk Gathani
Recent surveys indicate that Europeans remain less supportive than Americans of the U.S.-led counter-terrorism campaign, as well as the plan to attack Iraq and destabilise the regime of the President, Saddam Hussein. In the Arab-Israeli dispute, Americans tend to support Israel, while most Europeans side with the Palestinians. Mr. Bush's praise of the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, as "a man of peace", coupled with a continuing sense of U.S. unilateralism, appears to have fuelled greater support for an independent European approach to security and diplomatic affairs. The Economist said: "In the Muslim world, of course, but also in much of Europe, the uneven battles on the West Bank have encouraged demonstrators to burn the American flag on the streets, alongside the flag of Israel. But even before those battles (Afghanistan and the West Bank) European politicians were lining up to denounce Mr. Bush's `simplistic' foreign policy and deplore America's preponderance in the world. The loyalty to Mr. Bush shown by Britain's Prime Minister, Tony Blair, had begun to alienate not only Britain's European Union partners, but also his own Labour Party... This rift was visible before Ariel Sharon invaded the West Bank. But Mr. Sharon has made the rift suddenly deeper. "America is not responsible for the fighting, still less for its grisly climax in what may turn out to have been a war crime in Jenin. But as the provider of Israel's sword and furnisher of its diplomatic shield, America is being held responsible. In most of the world, but not in America, pictures of the bulldozed refugee camp plaster the front pages. To an extent that Americans do not realise, being blamed for Israel's actions is ripping up the coalition." A Financial Times editorial writer stated that Mr. Bush is a man "in a hopeless muddle in his Middle East policy who seems to have thought that sending Mr. Powell to the region would be a useful public relations exercise. Mr. Bush's top priority is to remove Saddam Hussein in Iraq. For that he needs a modicum of loyal Arab support, so he dreamed up the gesture of sending his Secretary of State on a mission. It was not only hopeless, it was pointless." If these latest comments are any criterion, the trans-Atlantic divide between the U.S. and the E.U. could be widening. In another survey, it was revealed that 80 per cent of citizens in four large west European countries — Germany, France, Britain and Italy — disapprove of Mr. Bush's foreign policy, which is seen as "catering exclusively" to U.S. interests. Similarly, many European officials overtly disapprove of U.S. foreign policy, dubbing it both "isolationist" and "patronising".
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