US President Barack Obama is to stay away from a Spanish US-EU summit scheduled for May, in what some see as a blow to Europe's diplomatic prestige.The White House said Mr Obama had had no plans to attend the event, and aides pointed out he had visited Europe six times in 2009. Mr Obama attended US-EU summits in Prague and Washington last year. A Spanish official quoted by AP news agency said Madrid had assumed Mr Obama would be attending the May event.
US President Barack Obama is to stay away from a Spanish US-EU summit scheduled for May, in what some see as a blow to Europe's diplomatic prestige.
The White House said Mr Obama had had no plans to attend the event, and aides pointed out he had visited Europe six times in 2009.
Mr Obama attended US-EU summits in Prague and Washington last year.
A Spanish official quoted by AP news agency said Madrid had assumed Mr Obama would be attending the May event.
PARIS -- President Obama's decision to skip a United States-European Union summit meeting scheduled for Madrid in May has predictably upset European officials, who suggested on Tuesday that the summit itself will now be postponed, possibly to the autumn. Readers' Comments In addition to the palpable sense of insult among European officials, there was a growing concern that Europe is being taken for granted and losing importance in American eyes compared to the rise of a newly truculent China.European Union officials found out about the decision through the news media late on Monday, senior European officials said Tuesday morning. The Obama decision was first reported on the Web site of The Wall Street Journal.The Spanish prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who is scheduled to arrive in Washington this week on a visit, was described as angry and embarrassed, and European officials said there was a set of high-level diplomatic exchanges overnight.
PARIS -- President Obama's decision to skip a United States-European Union summit meeting scheduled for Madrid in May has predictably upset European officials, who suggested on Tuesday that the summit itself will now be postponed, possibly to the autumn. Readers' Comments
In addition to the palpable sense of insult among European officials, there was a growing concern that Europe is being taken for granted and losing importance in American eyes compared to the rise of a newly truculent China.
European Union officials found out about the decision through the news media late on Monday, senior European officials said Tuesday morning. The Obama decision was first reported on the Web site of The Wall Street Journal.
The Spanish prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who is scheduled to arrive in Washington this week on a visit, was described as angry and embarrassed, and European officials said there was a set of high-level diplomatic exchanges overnight.
i think it makes europe look a little foolish, not hat he skips it, but the reactions...why take it so personally, i doubt he has any desire to snub europe, but these over-reactions from europeans make us look a bit pathetic.
giving the yanks more power, in a way, than they are already abusing already.
a little more isolationasism would do them (and us) good, actually.
no offence to americans here either, it's the government and its expectations that the rest of the planet is some kind of rudderless ship without their gripping the helm that rubs me wrong... ~Government budget deficits are not nearly as dangerous as the deficits we have created in vital and complex natural systems.~ Naomi Klein.
Now that the eminently sensible and progressive new Leader of the Free World they have been fawning over for the last 18 months has shown himself to be no less of a problem, maybe European leaders will be cured of their Atlanticism. En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
But, really, after Copenhagen and now this, why on Earth should Europe continue fighting Obama's land war in Asia? En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
Does it matter? One sometimes see Americans dismiss Pakistan as "small" or "unimportant." Think again. Pakistan is the world's sixth-largest country by population (170 million),just after Brazil (200 million). It is as big as California, Oregon and Washington state rolled together. Pakistan's 550,000-man military is among the best-trained and best-equipped in the global South. Pakistan has within it a middle class with a Western-style education and way of life (automobiles, access to internet and international media) of some 37 million-- roughly 5 million families. (Pakistan has over 5 million automobiles now and is an emerging auto producer and market, with auto production at 16 percent of its manufaturing sector). If we go by local purchasing power, it is the world's 27th largest economy. It is a nuclear power with a sophisticated if small scientific establishment, and produced a Nobelist in physics. Gates went to Pakistan to emphasize to Islamabad that the US was not again going to abandon it and Afghanistan, as it had in the past. Pakistan, he wanted to say, is now a very long-term ally of Washington. He hoped for cooperation against the Haqqani, Taliban and Hizb-i Islami guerrillas. He wanted to allay conspiracy theories about US mercenary armies crawling over Pakistan, occasionally blowing things up (and then blaming the explosions on Pakistanis) in order to destabilize the country and manipulate its policies. The message his mission inadvertently sent was that the US is now increasingly tilting to India and wants to put it in charge of Afghanistan security; that Pakistan is isolated; that he is pressuring Pakistan to take on further counter-insurgency operations against Taliban in the Northwest, which the country flatly lacks the resources to do; and that Pakistani conspiracy theories about Blackwater were perfectly correct and he had admitted it.
Gates went to Pakistan to emphasize to Islamabad that the US was not again going to abandon it and Afghanistan, as it had in the past. Pakistan, he wanted to say, is now a very long-term ally of Washington. He hoped for cooperation against the Haqqani, Taliban and Hizb-i Islami guerrillas. He wanted to allay conspiracy theories about US mercenary armies crawling over Pakistan, occasionally blowing things up (and then blaming the explosions on Pakistanis) in order to destabilize the country and manipulate its policies.
The message his mission inadvertently sent was that the US is now increasingly tilting to India and wants to put it in charge of Afghanistan security; that Pakistan is isolated; that he is pressuring Pakistan to take on further counter-insurgency operations against Taliban in the Northwest, which the country flatly lacks the resources to do; and that Pakistani conspiracy theories about Blackwater were perfectly correct and he had admitted it.
cutting military and police support.
The last generation of Latin American leaders haven't been noted for viewing the Big Northern Neighbour with particularly rose-tinted glasses.
Having the threat of a CIA assassination, a US-sponsored coup d'etat or the United State's ultimate instrument of diplomacy perpetually hanging over your head tends to clarify your thoughts on such matters.
US President Barack Obama intends to go ahead with plans to meet the Dalai Lama despite warnings from China not to, a White House spokesman has said.Mr Obama told China's leaders last year in Beijing that he would meet with the Tibetan spiritual leader, White House spokesman Bill Burton said. China has warned that ties with the US would be undermined if the meeting takes place. No date has been set but it is expected to take place later this month. "The president told China's leaders during his trip last year that he would meet with the Dalai Lama and he intends to do so," White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters. "The Dalai Lama is an internationally respected religious and cultural leader and the president will meet with him in that capacity," he said. The comments came after Communist Party official Zhu Weiqun said such a meeting would "threaten trust and co-operation" between Beijing and Washington.
US President Barack Obama intends to go ahead with plans to meet the Dalai Lama despite warnings from China not to, a White House spokesman has said.
Mr Obama told China's leaders last year in Beijing that he would meet with the Tibetan spiritual leader, White House spokesman Bill Burton said.
China has warned that ties with the US would be undermined if the meeting takes place.
No date has been set but it is expected to take place later this month.
"The president told China's leaders during his trip last year that he would meet with the Dalai Lama and he intends to do so," White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters.
"The Dalai Lama is an internationally respected religious and cultural leader and the president will meet with him in that capacity," he said.
The comments came after Communist Party official Zhu Weiqun said such a meeting would "threaten trust and co-operation" between Beijing and Washington.
Obama's decision will hurt all the more because the EU is in the process, so it thinks, of beefing up its common foreign policy and the way it projects itself to the rest of the world. Now that the EU's Lisbon treaty is in force, the 27-nation bloc has a full-time president, Herman Van Rompuy of Belgium, and a foreign policy chief with enhanced powers, Britain's Baroness Catherine Ashton. Along with José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain's prime minister, this pair would presumably have been in Madrid to greet Obama. But in a way this is precisely the EU's problem. Obama and other world leaders can't figure out who exactly speaks for Europe. So far, the main effect of the Lisbon treaty seems to have been simply to add one more European - Van Rompuy - to the party. Neither Barroso nor Zapatero is showing any inclination to step to one side and let Van Rompuy be Europe's main man. It hardly helps, of course, that virtually no one in Washington had heard of Van Rompuy or Ashton until EU leaders picked them in November for two of the bloc's highest jobs. However, the Obama decision is about more than US-EU relations. It is about the EU's obsolete practice of holding regular summits with third parties - Canada, China, India, Japan, Russia, South Africa, the US and so on - that are usually almost completely empty of substance. I recall travelling to Bordeaux in July 2008, when France held the EU's presidency, to watch President Nicolas Sakozy host a summit for Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's president. It was all over in a flash. Sarko even left early so that he could return to Paris to meet Obama, who at that point was a mere candidate for the presidency making a quick trip to Europe.
But in a way this is precisely the EU's problem. Obama and other world leaders can't figure out who exactly speaks for Europe. So far, the main effect of the Lisbon treaty seems to have been simply to add one more European - Van Rompuy - to the party. Neither Barroso nor Zapatero is showing any inclination to step to one side and let Van Rompuy be Europe's main man. It hardly helps, of course, that virtually no one in Washington had heard of Van Rompuy or Ashton until EU leaders picked them in November for two of the bloc's highest jobs.
However, the Obama decision is about more than US-EU relations. It is about the EU's obsolete practice of holding regular summits with third parties - Canada, China, India, Japan, Russia, South Africa, the US and so on - that are usually almost completely empty of substance. I recall travelling to Bordeaux in July 2008, when France held the EU's presidency, to watch President Nicolas Sakozy host a summit for Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's president. It was all over in a flash. Sarko even left early so that he could return to Paris to meet Obama, who at that point was a mere candidate for the presidency making a quick trip to Europe.
Nowadays, however, a name does not readily come to mind if we are to say who would answer Europe's phone when President Obama called!
And in this case Omaba has no need to call anyone. There's a multi-level bilateral summit hosted by the EU. The EU can suggest a number of events that will take place during the summit and the US can send whomever to each one. Obama is not going to show up at a meeting where he can send Geithner. Or Clinton. Obama is saying that he has no need to be at the summit. His underlings can do all that needs done except for the photo ops. Hopefully he will send Clinton.
As for phone calls, the Secretary of State's counterpart is the High Representative. In this case, Clinton calls Ashton.
That's the only clear-cut case, admittedly.
Van Rompuy's function is like that of the speaker of the Senate. It's probably Biden's job to meet with him. In that sense it's totally appropriate despite the derision of the sewious people that van Rompuy wants to hold an informal Council meeting in a library. The problem is that the position of Counci President was invented so that Blair could grandstand and steal the High Representative's attributions. See A-B-C, The Seven Dwarfs, And The Giant Bird by afew (October 20th, 2009).
Barroso is the head of the EU's executive. Obama should probably meet him. But that's from the point of view of managing the EU bureaucracy. The political direction is intergovernmental and lies with the Council, and that means the rotating President, in this case Zapatero. So Obama would have to meet with him, too. Which is only fair in any case since ZP is the head of government hosting the summit.
I understand Obama might prefer to just meet with Brown, Sarkozy or Merkel, but that's three people, too, right? En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
Yeah, because the EU just does whatever the British Prime Minister tells them, right?
Just because the US president calls No.10 when he wants to speak to Europe doesn't mean that's what he should be doing. En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
Left to right: High Representative for the CSFP Javier Solana, US President Barack Obama, European Commission President José Barroso and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrick Reinfeldt.
Note also that Javier Solana was not only High Representative but also Council Secretary General - a job that has now been beefed up and given to van Rompuy.
But any excuse is good to sound the [Europe.Is.Doomed™ Alert] . En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
Why put about this suggestion that the EU is a joke that can't get its act together? Perhaps because it suits American interests that Europe should not unify. What the US, as an imperial power, would prefer is Europe as a group of separate countries that each follows the American lead. Washington prefers bilateral relations with each European country, in which the power relationship of major to minor is evident, rather than with a bloc that could claim a more even power-share.
Oh, bilateral relations means picking up twenty-seven telephones... But we never hear that joke, do we?
...The transatlantic partnership does not need more summits, fora, or dialogues. The Prague summit at which President Obama was subjected to 27 interventions from the EU's assembled heads of state and government was an eye-opener for his administration: senior figures have made plain to us their dread that the Spanish initiative could lead to something called "the Madrid Process". What is needed instead is serious European discussion of which issues currently really matter in transatlantic terms - and on which of those issues Europeans can present a united position to the Americans......The continuing inadequacy of formal EU-US dialogue is particularly exposed by the annual EU-US summits. These meetings normally bring together the US president and relevant cabinet members with the president of the European Commission, the head of state and/or government of the country that holds the European Council's rotating presidency, the High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, relevant European commissioners and their equivalents from the presidency government, and sometimes those of the next government in line. To Americans, these summits are all too typical of the European love of process over substance, and a European compulsion for everyone to crowd into the room regardless of efficiency.12 Bush was so dismayed by his first summit experience at Gothenburg in 2001 that he promptly halved the meetings' frequency to once a year; administration sources are frank that Obama's encounter with all 27 European heads of state and government at the Prague summit in April 2008 left him incredulous. As a result of this complex, compartmentalised relationship, Americans feel as if they are trying to deal with Proteus. The shape-shifting Europeans appear now as NATO allies; now as an EU that in turn sometimes appears as 27 states trying to act as one and sometimes one trying to act for 27; and now as individual states, each of whom expects its own relationship and access...
What is needed instead is serious European discussion of which issues currently really matter in transatlantic terms - and on which of those issues Europeans can present a united position to the Americans...
...
The continuing inadequacy of formal EU-US dialogue is particularly exposed by the annual EU-US summits. These meetings normally bring together the US president and relevant cabinet members with the president of the European Commission, the head of state and/or government of the country that holds the European Council's rotating presidency, the High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, relevant European commissioners and their equivalents from the presidency government, and sometimes those of the next government in line. To Americans, these summits are all too typical of the European love of process over substance, and a European compulsion for everyone to crowd into the room regardless of efficiency.12 Bush was so dismayed by his first summit experience at Gothenburg in 2001 that he promptly halved the meetings' frequency to once a year; administration sources are frank that Obama's encounter with all 27 European heads of state and government at the Prague summit in April 2008 left him incredulous.
As a result of this complex, compartmentalised relationship, Americans feel as if they are trying to deal with Proteus. The shape-shifting Europeans appear now as NATO allies; now as an EU that in turn sometimes appears as 27 states trying to act as one and sometimes one trying to act for 27; and now as individual states, each of whom expects its own relationship and access...
From a study highlighted by nanne in Power Void in Europe. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
