The Rift Between America and Old Europe

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This book explains the opening of the great political rift between America and Old Europe in 2002-03. Following the wave of solidarity with America in 2001, most of America's European allies enthusiastically joined the war in Afghanistan but for some of them enthusiasm soon gave way to pacifist reactions to the American switch from the common war on terrorism to regime change in Iraq, to American rejection of international treaties and to hostility to the UN. The evolution of American foreign policy from earlier multilateralism to the neo-conservative unilateralism of the Bush administration thus arose hostility in some of America's traditional allies, among them France and Germany. French and German public opinion polls, media opinion, and the context of past foreign policy supply the background for this analysis in a year of major parliamentary elections in both countries in 2002. Early in 2003, the Euro-American estrangement led to an open break as Washington plunged ahead, overriding UN and allied support for weapons inspections in Iraq, to launch a blitzkrieg operation against Saddam Hussein. Ultimately The Distracted Eagle analyses how this decision combined with the rejection of Kyoto and other international treaties, all clearly related to the conservative Republican revolution in domestic policies, widened the rift by undermining the role of America as a democratic model. The book ends with a critical assessment of the 2000 presidential elections and its significance for America's leadership abroad.