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After Kosovo: Power Shift Taking Place?
Is America surrendering its leadership of the Western world?
by Melvin Rhodes
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization
formed in 1949 as a bulwark against Soviet communism, which allied Europe with America's
interests. A war-weakened Germany was integrated into the alliance, making it subordinate
and dependent on U.S. military protection. As the 19 nations of NATO celebrate a
victory of sorts in the Balkan conflict and its 50th anniversary year as one of the
most enduring alliances in history, America's leadership of the Western world is
increasingly questioned.
Recognizing that the interests of Europe and the United States don't always overlap,
the leaders of 15 European nations decided in June to create a joint European Union
(EU) army, making the EU a military power for the first time since its formation
42 years ago.
The European Union, long an economic giant, plans to add military muscle to its economic
strength. By late 2000 the union plans to have in place the 60,000-strong Eurocorps--an
army almost twice as large as the total U.S. military forces deployed in the Kosovo
conflict--to project military power and protect European interests. The intended
move marks a major step in the development of a new, more assertive Europe.
ìThe union must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed by credible military
forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so, in order to respond
to international crises without prejudice to actions by NATO,î declared the European
leaders.
The magazine Foreign Affairs summarized shifting world power and opinion over
recent years: ìEven old allies stubbornly resist American demands, while many other
nations view U.S. policy and ideals as openly hostile to their own. Washington is
blind to the fact that it no longer enjoys the dominance it had at the end of the
Cold Warî (March-April, p. II).
German Initiative
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany, in office less than a year, recently
stepped forward to help fill a vacuum left by American vacillation in dealing with
Serbia. He apologized to the Chinese government and people for NATO's (actually,
America's) accidental bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, defusing a potentially
dangerous escalating tension between two major powers.
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