The story of Europe's current fracturing is replete with ironies, outsize personalities and conflicting national interests, all three of which were on display in the one might think deliberate destructive intrusions recently by Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. defense secretary. Historic elements have overshadowed the fact that there is a genuine argument to be had about the wisdom of rushing to war against Iraq. To worry that the march to Baghdad might kindle rather than douse the fires of terrorism or to fret about the legitimacy of preemptive war is not to be anti-American, merely obstructionist.
But listening lately to the discordant voices of Jacques Chirac, Tony Blair, Gerhard Schroeder and others has led one to believe that the source of the tension runs deeper. A decade and more after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Europe is only now confronting the consequences both for the transatlantic relationship and for its own identity. The countries of Europe may agree to make common cause when the issues are small -- a peace-keeping force for Macedonia, a few thousand troops to help stabilize Afghanistan. But once the geopolitical stakes rise, national interests and pride win out over solidarity.
While the United States is pursuing those who launched the attack on the World Trade Centers, and those who support the 'cause' that led to 911, Europe is left standing, somewhat ineffectually, in the wings.
There are cocerns within the courts of Europe that since 1989, the US has been so preeminent, that eventually a western hegemony will emerge, and the EU while expanding, is not the vehicle for solidarity it had been expected to be..
Chirac and Schroeder lead the EU a the moment, and are well aware that their positions in the heirarchy are precarious, with membership in the EU burgeoning from 15 to 25 over the next few years.
This action against the Middle East may well be justified, but what Europe wants, which even Britain wants, is action that will eventually lead to a settlement of the Israeli/Palistinian problem.. and that is not on the American agenda at the moment..