atlantiker.de

Editorial Team: We have all heard that America and Europe are worlds apart. But a careful look at social statistics shows that the US is just as "European" as any country in the EU. With the rise of conservative governments in Europe and the new social movement springing up around the Obama Administration, it is time to reconsider current world views.

Ingo Mannteufel: US President Barack Obama proclaimed a new start in Russian-American relations; now it is the Vice President's job to initiate a new policy towards the governments of Ukraine and Georgia. Biden made it clear that the US is no longer willing to give these countries whatever it takes to counterbalance Russia.

That is what the Russians must be wondering these days. Let's recap.

Three weeks ago, President Obama goes to Moscow and holds a speech saying that he recognizes "the future benefit that will come from a strong and vibrant Russia", talks about Russia's "rightful place as a great power", and states: "The pursuit of power is no longer a zero-sum game". He offers a few words about the right of Russia's neighbours to set their own foreign policy, but follows up by saying that NATO seeks "collaboration, not confrontation" with Russia.

To the ever-suspicious Russians, this should have sounded like an actual attempt to improve relations.

Cue Joe Biden. The VP was sent on a quick tour to Ukraine and Georgia to assuage fears that the US would change its stance on their possible future membership of NATO. Biden did that part of the job well enough, giving some combative language that the US would "stand by" Georgia, but also making it clear that there was no military way for the country to regain control over Abkhazia and South Ossetia. However, Biden then decided to give an interview to the Wall Street Journal in which he managed to insult just about everyone - even the Georgians - but most of all the Russians. The WSJ headline 'Biden Says Weakened Russia Will Bend To US' is hardly an exaggeration.

When Biden recently made some silly remarks about Israel striking Iran, Mickey Kaus pointed out that this might be a useful form of strategic ambiguity. You might want that kind of thing with regard to Iran, but don't think strategic ambiguity would be useful with regard to Russia, especially in the context of trying to improve relations. So if the White House was ever serious about that, it will have to find a way to communicate that its really only Joe, you know.

Jakob Stenfalk: Solving the problems of the 21st century requires broad international cooperation. Having glaring double standards is fundamentally destructive of the trust that such cooperation requires.

Editorial Team: The Bundeswehr pursues insurgents in Northern Afghanistan with heavy firepower. Members of atlantic-community.org, will this more assertive approach lead to more stability in Afghanistan? Has a "psychological threshold" been crossed in Germany?

Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinksi, two former National Security Advisers, maintain a differing opinion on a united European military force than does Henry Kissinger, one of the foremost […]

Hey, hey, believe it or not, Germany is getting tough at the Hindu Kush. The Bundeswehr started its biggest operation yet in Afghanistan. 300 members of the Quick Reaction Force support the Afghan Army against insurgents near Kundus. For the first time, infantry fighting vehicles with heavy firepower have been deployed.

Moreover, the German Army Inspector General Wolfgang Schneiderhan stated in a press conferences that "now is the time to carry out this escalation" because of the upcoming Afghan elections and increase in attacks against the Bundeswehr. He also announced that the rules of engagement are currently being revised. "Escalating" is a normal military term, but I am still surprised that a general is using this phrase in a press conference. It might have been the first time ever since WWII that a German general is publicly advocating an escalation.

I have written a bit more about this on Atlantic-Community.org and would appreciate your assessment of the impact on stability in Afghanistan and the German mindset. Some German papers were talking about a "psychological threshold" being crossed in Germany.

Editorial Team: The Bundeswehr pursues insurgents in Northern Afghanistan with more firepower. Members of atlantic-community.org, what do you think of the changes in Germany's policy and rhetoric? Will the more assertive approach lead to more stability? Has a psychological threshold been crossed in Germany?

Andreas Umland: The Ukrainian Presidential elections scheduled for January 2010 are actually detrimental to the nation's interests. Ukrainian democracy is weak, and the nation faces the fallout of the world financial crisis and Moscow's continuously growing imperial appetite.

Christoph Suess: If someone had said two years ago that the US would have largely withdrawn its forces from Iraqi cities by now, he would have been called naive. Nobody here in Europe believed that the Iraqis would be able to handle their own security so soon. Given that, Europe's silence on the latest US move is suspicious.