Columbia International Affairs Online

CIAO DATE: 02/05/08

European Affairs

Volume 8, Number 1 - Spring 2007

Letter from the Editor

• The Waiting Game

Cover Story -- Doha Trade Talks: Transatlantic Dilemmas

• U.S. Farming: The Politics
  Dan Morgan, Correspondent, The Washington Post

  Agriculture has often been a stumbling block in global trade talks, sometimes on the U.S. side. The issue may doom the Doha round. Amid hopes for a last-minute deal, experts can come up with rational blueprints for a win-win package. But, to paraphrase a celebrated Clinton campaign phrase, when it comes to the U.S. farm lobby, “it’s the politics, stupid!”

• WTO: Caught In a Minefield?
  François Clemenceau, Washington Correspondent, Europe 1

  Putting global trade talks under the auspices of the World Trade Organization offered the advantage of institutionalizing them as an on-going process. As time seems to be running out on the Doha round, some of the drawbacks of the new system are becoming visible in the form of calendars with conflicting deadlines—a squeeze that aggravates substantive issues.

Economy -- Europe's Challenge to Wall Street's Hegemony

• Wall Street: Master of the Universe No Longer?
  J. Paul Horne, Washington Economist

  A wave of indicators showing that capital markets are shifting their business to European centers has triggered blue-ribbon studies and high-level concern in the Bush administration. The reports about a loss of U.S. competitiveness are true. But their long-run impact may be exaggerated. In fact, some greater degree of globalization in financial markets could prove to be a stabilizing factor.

• Competition Among Capital Markets: Focus on Facts, not Factoids
  Randal Quarles, former Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, U.S. Department of Treasury

  In reacting to the changes in flows to global capital markets, misconceptions about the causal factors could cause harm if they distort the responses. Competition may be useful if it brings reformers to focus on the nature of U.S. markets and not simply provide protectionism for individual companies and narrow interests.

Diplomacy

• Financial Sanctions Are Tehran's Achilles Heel
  James Kitfield, Pentagon and Diplomatic Correspondent, National Journal

  Biting deeper than UN sanctions, bilateral financial sanctions by the United States and European nations seem to be isolating Tehran from access to global capital. Western financial institutions are becoming wary of doing business with Iranian entities that may be accused of involvement with any Iranian pursuit of nuclear weapons or terrorism.

Leader in Focus

• Ambassador John Bruton, The EU's Man in Washington
  EU and U.S. Need to Imagine the Planet's Future Together

  The head of the European Commission Delegation in the United States talks about some fundamental differences in perceptions and realities on opposite sides of the Atlantic - and about some misconceptions that can distort these differences. And he sees emerging Transatlantic convergence on the overriding challenge of global warming.

Environment

• EU Confronts Climate Action and Business Cost
  Honor Mahony, Deputy Editor, EUobserver

  Cutting carbon emissions has become a rallying cry at the European Commission and for some EU governments such as Britain. With tough commitments, they are hoping to seize the high moral ground and help bring the United States and big emerging nations on board. Inside the EU, debate is raging about the impact on European competitiveness.

U.S.-EU Relations

• Visa Waivers: A Damaging U.S.-EU Imbroglio
  Helle Dale, Director, Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies and Deputy Director, Davis Institute for International Studies, The Heritage Foundation

  U.S. reluctance to expand visa-waiver exemptions to some EU member-states is a major irritant in relations with these countries. Unfortunately, the problem is wrapped around two big policy-axles in Congress: terrorism and immigration. That situation has complicated the outlook for an issue damaging both Europeans and the U.S.

Homeland Security

• EU Defending Food Chain Against Bio-Attack
  Isabelle Bénoliel, Principal Advisor on Bioterrorism to the Director-General for Health and Consumer Protection, European Commission

  EU leaders have determined they face a real threat of a biological warfare attack on Europeans via food. The first line of defense—and the driver of any effective response to an actual incident—involves information about products and where they come from, about consumers and where they are and about the location and assets of first-responders.

• Biodefense: U.S. Vision of Broader Cooperation
  Marc L. Ostfield, Senior Advisor for Bioterrorism, Biodefense, and Health Security, U.S. Department of State

  Taking the lead on “food defense” against terrorist attack, the United States has developed a system of often-elaborate measures to identify what agent is involved in any widespread poisoning. This approach will facilitate effective response not only against a terrorist action but also against non-malevolent incidents. The U.S. hopes to galvanize cooperation with international governments and other agencies.

Verbatim

• Congressional Testimony by Dr. Henry Kissinger

  According to Dr. Henry Kissinger, the former Secretary of State, the United States will have to stay in Iraq for a long time as part of a wider strategy to contain region-wide repercussions of events there. Excerpts of his testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee include his call for an international conference on regional security.

Industry and Technology

• E-Stonia: Pioneer of Internet Innovation and e-Government
  Kertu Ruus, Washington-based U.S. bureau chief, Äripäev, Estonia

  This Baltic state was the world’s first country to hold national legislative elections with a full-fledged option for voters to cast their ballots via the internet. This innovation was typical of the way in which Estonians systematically integrate electronic data and communications into their daily lives. This spurs world class innovation—think Skype.

Security Affairs

• Israel's Most Devoted Ally: U.S. Evangelical Christians
  Zev Chafets, author and former columnist for the New York Daily News

  Evangelical Christians heavily influence the leadership of the Republican Party. Their litmus test includes support for Israel. Evangelicals’ unquestioning support for modern Israel is rooted in their literalist biblical faith. Europeans’ neglect of this strand of U.S. policy on the Middle East fuels Transatlantic misunderstanding on the issue.

• The Black Sea Zone: Connective Tissue or Confrontational Fracture?
  Ronald D. Asmus, Executive Director, Transatlantic Center, the German Marshall Fund, Brussels

  Western neglect besets this neuralgic area comprising the countries bordering the Black Sea and their neighbors. Yet it is a high stakes area for everything from pipelines to democracy’s spread. Should the EU and NATO take the risks (including Russian ire) of trying to involve themselves directly in an attempt to reform and stabilize the zone?

Book Reviews

• Flying it In

  Boeing Versus Airbus: The Inside Story of the Greatest International Competition in Business by John Newhouse
  Reviewed by Robert Herzstein

• An Anglosphere Saga

  A History of the English-Speaking People since 1900 by Andrew Roberts
  Reviewed by Michael Mosettig

• U.S. Can Legitimize its Role

  Überpower: The Imperial Temptation of America by Josef Joffe
  Reviewed by Joëlle Attinger

• Sources of Modern Hate and Bloodshed

  The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West by Niall Ferguson
  Reviewed by Jurek Martin