WASHINGTON — Recent changes in the leadership of two of the closest allies of the United States are altering the dynamic of the trans-Atlantic relationship in ways that would have seemed highly improbable a year ago. The election in early May of the pro-American Nicolas Sarkozy as president of the French Republic has rekindled relations between Paris and Washington, previously soured by differences over Iraq. At the same time, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who succeeded Tony Blair in late June, used a U.S. trip to put new distance between his government and the Bush administration. The traditional close ties between [...]
EARLY LAME DUCK — The resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Monday has reinforced the impression among foreign governments that with 15 months to go, the Bush administration is already in lame duck mode. Aside from Iraq, “nothing much is going on, not even for Afghanistan,” privately admits a senior U.S. official. Meanwhile, a Western diplomat said Karl Rove’s departure has triggered an exodus from the White House and the National Security Council. As a result, he said, “There are now more holes in the administration than in Swiss cheese.” Experienced foreign diplomats, accustomed to the lack of continuity from [...]
Just when life looked like it could not get any worse for the people of Gaza, the lights went out. With temperatures soaring into the mid-90s earlier this week, the power company supplying electricity to as many as half of the strip’s 1.4 million people ran out of fuel for several days. As with just about everything that happens in the Middle East, the problem boiled down to politics. Surprisingly, however, the decision leading to the cutoff of fuel shipments came from the European Union, shining a broiling hot spotlight on one of the dilemmas confronting the international community as [...]
