By: Azhar Azam
*This is one of my opinion pieces (unedited) that first appeared at "China Global Television Network (CGTN)":
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-05-29/Fast-changing-European-mood-on-America-QTaXflWwus/index.html
Donald Trump is spearheading a campaign that continues to uncouple the United States from countries across the world, notable the ones in Europe. The president has been doing so by scrapping the US bilateral and multilateral agreements and treaties such as Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), Paris Agreement, Trans-Pacific Treaty (TTP) and Iran nuclear deal.
On May 21, he unveiled his plan to pull the US out of another key global landmark pact – Treaty on Open Skies – which allows unarmed observation, surveillance or reconnaissance flights over signatory states, accusing Russia for violating the terms of the 35-nation accord. Proposed by the former US President Dwight Eisenhower in 1955, it was signed in 1992 and took effect in 2002.
The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that six months from now, Washington will no longer be a party to the Treaty however it may reconsider its decision should Moscow “return to full compliance.” He accused that Russia was appearing to use Open Sky imagery to advance its “doctrine of targeting critical infrastructure” in the US and Europe with precision-guided conventional munitions.
Counter to Pompeo claims that the decision was taken after careful consideration including input from allies and key partners, the US’ European allies were thunderstruck by Trump administration’s impetuous withdrawal announcement from one of wide-ranging international efforts, which they believe provides transparency and stability and is an important contribution to EU and global security and stability.
Regretting the announcement, the European Union (EU) warned that withdrawal is not solution to address difficulties in its implementation or non-compliance by any party and urged the US to review its decision. The move would likely deepen rift between Washington and its European and NATO allies.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministries of Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden also defied the US claim about any deliberations with the bloc on American pullout from treaty and assured to continue to implement the Open Sky Treaty that is crucial element of to improve security across the Euro-Atlantic area.
The rebuke by the leading EU nations – as well as NATO commitment to continue to uphold, support and strengthen arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation – is an outright example of growing annoyance and insolence in the regional governments toward US imposing and unilateral actions that previously ditched Europe on INF and Iran nuclear deal and now is undermining their vital security objectives by increasing the risk of conflict.
Countries in the “peninsula of peninsulas” seem to be brimmed over with Washington’s imposing attitude and are outwardly looking to break the long-tied US shackles. The EU coalition appear to acquire the audacity to resist any idea that would force to trade off its security interests and therefor are taking decisions more independently.
The US is quite concerned with Moscow’s restrictions on flight distance over Kaliningrad, an area between Poland and Lithuania. The US national security adviser Robert O'Brien recently compared Russian enclave to a “dagger in the heart of Europe”. But in defiance to the US, the 11-nation alliance unanimously pledged that they will continue to engage Russia for settlement of all outstanding issues including overflight limitations over Kaliningrad.
Not only the governments’ mood, the tenor of the people in Europe vis-à-vis the United States is also changing and all this is happening under the leadership of Donald Trump. Last month, the YouGov pollsters found that in UK, only 13% of Brits thought that Britain should forge stronger relationship with the US.
Same is the case in France where the perceived level of dangerousness among the respondents from the US was highest compared to other nations. It was undoubtedly a reflection of American government attitude and more importantly mistrust on Trump who could gain the confidence of hardly 2% of French people.
A SWG survey recounted that a majority of the Italians wanted to develop Italy’s alliances with China (36%) more than the US (30%). In Germany, a latest poll by Körber-Stiftung, a partner of Pew Research Center, showed that an overwhelming majority (73%) of Germans had their opinion deteriorated about the US due to coronavirus pandemic.
When questioned, what is more important for Germany – the proportion of respondents, who opined that Berlin should have close relations with Washington, dropped 13% to 37% year-over-year. China, on the other hand, saw a spike of 12% to gain the support of 36% respondents. Additionally, Germans seeing America as the most important partner was also almost halved from 19% in 2019 to 10% in 2020.
The manifold surveys clearly describe that the trust among European countries about the US global leadership has been busted and they are now turning away from Washington over its botched response to Covid-19 and tension-stirring role in undermining the global cooperation to collectively defeat the virus.
Liam Kennedy, Professor of American Studies at University College Dublin, says that the transatlantic relations of the Western-led global order are in parlous state and European leaders have beginning to imagine a world order without the US at the center. “The ‘post-American world’ that is taking shape will see it and other Western nations decline while the rest, most notably China, rise.”
In his eloquent column “Donald Trump has destroyed the country he promised to great again” for The Irish Times, one of leading European journalists Fintan O’Toole analyzed that America – which was loved, hated and envied – for the first time, is being pitied by the world.
Reshaping of a auto-generated America-less global order and forlorn US situation have stems from Trump’s labeling the EU a foe and accusing it for unfair trade practices, threatening to slap tariffs on European goods, terming NATO alliance obsolete and pressing it to increase share of defense spending. This rhetoric, backed by some other harsh criticisms, has exasperated the European countries, which are reassessing whether the US will remain a plausible and steadfast partner, irrespective of who makes to the White House latter this year.
The warmness in Europe-US relationship was chilling for a few years but eventually, it is Trump’s mercantilist and protectionist view of transatlantic economic, security and political correlation that is accelerating the downfall of decades-old alliance. He has shunted the continent into a position where its trust on Washington has seriously splintered that could drive the European nations to reach out to other parts of the world and establish well-heeled security and trade ties.
*This is one of my opinion pieces (unedited) that first appeared at "China Global Television Network (CGTN)":
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-05-29/Fast-changing-European-mood-on-America-QTaXflWwus/index.html
Donald Trump is spearheading a campaign that continues to uncouple the United States from countries across the world, notable the ones in Europe. The president has been doing so by scrapping the US bilateral and multilateral agreements and treaties such as Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), Paris Agreement, Trans-Pacific Treaty (TTP) and Iran nuclear deal.
On May 21, he unveiled his plan to pull the US out of another key global landmark pact – Treaty on Open Skies – which allows unarmed observation, surveillance or reconnaissance flights over signatory states, accusing Russia for violating the terms of the 35-nation accord. Proposed by the former US President Dwight Eisenhower in 1955, it was signed in 1992 and took effect in 2002.
The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that six months from now, Washington will no longer be a party to the Treaty however it may reconsider its decision should Moscow “return to full compliance.” He accused that Russia was appearing to use Open Sky imagery to advance its “doctrine of targeting critical infrastructure” in the US and Europe with precision-guided conventional munitions.
Counter to Pompeo claims that the decision was taken after careful consideration including input from allies and key partners, the US’ European allies were thunderstruck by Trump administration’s impetuous withdrawal announcement from one of wide-ranging international efforts, which they believe provides transparency and stability and is an important contribution to EU and global security and stability.
Regretting the announcement, the European Union (EU) warned that withdrawal is not solution to address difficulties in its implementation or non-compliance by any party and urged the US to review its decision. The move would likely deepen rift between Washington and its European and NATO allies.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministries of Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden also defied the US claim about any deliberations with the bloc on American pullout from treaty and assured to continue to implement the Open Sky Treaty that is crucial element of to improve security across the Euro-Atlantic area.
The rebuke by the leading EU nations – as well as NATO commitment to continue to uphold, support and strengthen arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation – is an outright example of growing annoyance and insolence in the regional governments toward US imposing and unilateral actions that previously ditched Europe on INF and Iran nuclear deal and now is undermining their vital security objectives by increasing the risk of conflict.
Countries in the “peninsula of peninsulas” seem to be brimmed over with Washington’s imposing attitude and are outwardly looking to break the long-tied US shackles. The EU coalition appear to acquire the audacity to resist any idea that would force to trade off its security interests and therefor are taking decisions more independently.
The US is quite concerned with Moscow’s restrictions on flight distance over Kaliningrad, an area between Poland and Lithuania. The US national security adviser Robert O'Brien recently compared Russian enclave to a “dagger in the heart of Europe”. But in defiance to the US, the 11-nation alliance unanimously pledged that they will continue to engage Russia for settlement of all outstanding issues including overflight limitations over Kaliningrad.
Not only the governments’ mood, the tenor of the people in Europe vis-à-vis the United States is also changing and all this is happening under the leadership of Donald Trump. Last month, the YouGov pollsters found that in UK, only 13% of Brits thought that Britain should forge stronger relationship with the US.
Same is the case in France where the perceived level of dangerousness among the respondents from the US was highest compared to other nations. It was undoubtedly a reflection of American government attitude and more importantly mistrust on Trump who could gain the confidence of hardly 2% of French people.
A SWG survey recounted that a majority of the Italians wanted to develop Italy’s alliances with China (36%) more than the US (30%). In Germany, a latest poll by Körber-Stiftung, a partner of Pew Research Center, showed that an overwhelming majority (73%) of Germans had their opinion deteriorated about the US due to coronavirus pandemic.
When questioned, what is more important for Germany – the proportion of respondents, who opined that Berlin should have close relations with Washington, dropped 13% to 37% year-over-year. China, on the other hand, saw a spike of 12% to gain the support of 36% respondents. Additionally, Germans seeing America as the most important partner was also almost halved from 19% in 2019 to 10% in 2020.
The manifold surveys clearly describe that the trust among European countries about the US global leadership has been busted and they are now turning away from Washington over its botched response to Covid-19 and tension-stirring role in undermining the global cooperation to collectively defeat the virus.
Liam Kennedy, Professor of American Studies at University College Dublin, says that the transatlantic relations of the Western-led global order are in parlous state and European leaders have beginning to imagine a world order without the US at the center. “The ‘post-American world’ that is taking shape will see it and other Western nations decline while the rest, most notably China, rise.”
In his eloquent column “Donald Trump has destroyed the country he promised to great again” for The Irish Times, one of leading European journalists Fintan O’Toole analyzed that America – which was loved, hated and envied – for the first time, is being pitied by the world.
Reshaping of a auto-generated America-less global order and forlorn US situation have stems from Trump’s labeling the EU a foe and accusing it for unfair trade practices, threatening to slap tariffs on European goods, terming NATO alliance obsolete and pressing it to increase share of defense spending. This rhetoric, backed by some other harsh criticisms, has exasperated the European countries, which are reassessing whether the US will remain a plausible and steadfast partner, irrespective of who makes to the White House latter this year.
The warmness in Europe-US relationship was chilling for a few years but eventually, it is Trump’s mercantilist and protectionist view of transatlantic economic, security and political correlation that is accelerating the downfall of decades-old alliance. He has shunted the continent into a position where its trust on Washington has seriously splintered that could drive the European nations to reach out to other parts of the world and establish well-heeled security and trade ties.