Redstate

Posted at 1:02pm on Jun. 22, 2008 Europeans on cowboy unilateralism: "A hell of a way to start a presidential term."

Dare I even say... *simplisme*?

By Moe Lane

If you're wondering why you haven't really heard about this before (Via Hot Air)...

Europe Fears Obama Might Undercut Progress With Iran
By Glenn Kessler

European officials are increasingly concerned that Sen. Barack Obama's campaign pledge to begin direct talks with Iran on its nuclear program without preconditions could potentially rupture U.S. relations with key European allies early in a potential Obama administration.

The U.N. Security Council has passed four resolutions demanding that Iran stop enriching uranium, each time highlighting the offer of financial and diplomatic incentives from a European-led coalition if Tehran suspends enrichment, a route to producing fuel for nuclear weapons. But Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has said he would make such suspension a topic for discussion with Iran, rather than a precondition for any negotiations to take place.

European officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they are wary of giving up a demand that has been so enshrined in U.N. resolutions, particularly without any corresponding concessions by Iran. Although European officials are eager to welcome a U.S. president promising renewed diplomacy and multilateralism after years of tensions with the Bush administration, they feel strongly about continuing on the current path.

...it's simple: European governmnents assumed that this year's election was going to be McCain vs. Clinton. Which is to say, they thought that either way the election turned out they could still count on American-European relations being run by somebody competent to do so. The possibility that this might not happen is apparently alarming them somewhat.

Read on.

Posted in Europe | Foreign Affairs | Iran Policy | Obamafiles — Comments (4)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:52am on Jun. 22, 2008 When you make foreign policy in Hyde Park salons

By Soren Dayton

When you make foreign policy in Hyde Park salons you make it in a vacuum of ignorance. Take, for example, Barack Obama's Iran policy. Today, European leaders savage it Obama's Iran policy in the Washington Post. The problem is simple: Obama's promises to meet with Iran's leaders are at odds with a well-coordinated strategy with our European allies and the United Nations. And, yet again, our allies object. Read on after the jump.

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Europe | Iran | United Nations — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:48am on Jun. 16, 2008 Obama considering pre-August Europe trip?

If it happens, *maybe* Iraq, but *definitely* Western Europe.

By Moe Lane

Via The Other McCain comes a report that Obama might be doing the Grand Tour:

Obama considering world tour ahead of August convention
By Margaret Talev

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama may depart this summer from his road-warrior tour of election-battleground states to take a trip around the world, one intended to shore up his credentials on foreign policy.

With a foreign trip under discussion in the Obama camp, any itinerary almost certainly would include a stop in Iraq. That would be his first trip to the war zone since early 2006. It would be designed to answer Republican presidential candidate John McCain's criticism that antiwar Obama can't talk credibly about withdrawing U.S. forces since he hasn't been on the ground there since the 2007 troop buildup brought some military success.

While he's at it, Obama may extend his journey to other parts of the globe, especially Western Europe, where his racial mix, youth, optimism and themes of anti-Bush, multilateral diplomacy have generated impassioned interest in his candidacy.

William H. Seward could not be reached for comment at this time.

Moe Lane

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Europe — Comments (21)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 7:06pm on Jan. 10, 2008 Don't Know Much about Economics

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

As one who loves Europe, it is monumentally depressing to read something like this:

Millions of children are being raised on prejudice and disinformation. Educated in schools that teach a skewed ideology, they are exposed to a dogma that runs counter to core beliefs shared by many other Western countries. They study from textbooks filled with a doctrine of dissent, which they learn to recite as they prepare to attend many of the better universities in the world. Extracting these children from the jaws of bias could mean the difference between world prosperity and menacing global rifts. And doing so will not be easy. But not because these children are found in the madrasas of Pakistan or the state-controlled schools of Saudi Arabia. They are not. Rather, they live in two of the world's great democracies--France and Germany.

Read on . . .

Posted in Europe | Foreign Affairs | Unhealthy Amounts of Capitalistphobia — Comments (5)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:09am on Jan. 3, 2008 How To Reform Europe

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

A very good editorial. Not surprisingly, it emphasizes small-government and free market principles. On such writings can New Year's resolutions for the continent be founded.

Posted at 7:49pm on Nov. 23, 2007 Implementing Free Market Reforms In Europe

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

It can be done:

The governments of Italy, Germany, France and the UK are struggling to reform their economies, but little is happening. Is it impossible to launch substantial reforms in these countries? Do countries need an economic crisis to change? Or can only small countries do it? Are Romano Prodi, Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown stuck in a maze of reform obstacles?

Evidence from at least a dozen reformist countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development suggests not. Those that reformed substantially have had remarkable results. Ireland doubled incomes in a decade after dramatic reductions in the corporate tax rate; Spain integrated millions of immigrants into its labour market after deregulation; Sweden improved schools by allowing choice; New Zealand achieved full employment by labour market deregulation; Icelandic banks are all over Europe after privatisation and 16 countries introduced flat tax.

Several of these countries have brought about change in good econ­omic times, such as Australia, Sweden and Ireland. Crisis is not a prerequisite for reform. Bigger countries such as Spain and the US have reformed while some small ones have not. The four big European countries could definitely reform during this positive business cycle - in fact, it is an opportunity.

Success results from determination, political substance and strategy. Jean-Claude Juncker, former prime minister of Luxembourg, has said: "We all know what to do, but we don't know how to get re-elected once we have done it." Reforms are seen as politically difficult. In fact, nearly all reformist governments in the OECD have been re-elected at least once.

It's nice to see that doing the politically courageous thing can reap politically attractive benefits. It is also nice to see that the article takes the time to point out the following:

Political hesitation is underpinned by several myths. One is that free market reforms have socially adverse consequences. This is not true. In the countries that have reformed the most, the groups that benefited the most were usually low-income earners and the unemployed. They got jobs and higher incomes.

There may be plenty of rationales offered to explain why free market reforms are not pursued more ardently. But there are very few--if any--actual acceptable excuses for the relative lack of reform that has been pursued in Europe.

Posted in Capitalism | Europe | Foreign Affairs | Free Market — Comments (2)/ Email this page » / Read More »