Ally Versus Ally: America, Europe, and the Siberian Pipeline Crisis
This lively account of the 1982 dispute between the United States and several of its European allies about support for the building of the Soviet pipeline to Western Europe is full of facts and well-digested data. It correctly links the episode to long-standing differences in attitudes toward trade with the U.S.S.R. and in the process naturally covers a good bit of familiar ground. An analysis demonstrating how little the United States achieved by its efforts opens the way for the conclusion that there will be increased East-West trade but great political advantage will not necessarily flow from it.
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In spite of a European swing to the right, "1987 saw relations between the governments of the United States and its European allies reach a nadir" for three reasons (1) the offhand US approach to disarmament evidenced at Reykjavik rekindled European fears about US reliability (2) Iran-Contra bungling, the administration's attitude to Third World problems and the 'Nietzschean approach' of US conservatives damaged USA morally in Europe -- in the worst case, Europe faces "a friendly and conciliatory Soviet Union and a cantankerous, bullying United States" (3) the budget deficit, which is likely to have the gravest long-term implications of the three, since "the true security of western Europe rests not on its military defences but on its economic and social stability".
The great solidarity Europe showed America after September 11 has started to wear off, and real differences have opened up in the transatlantic pursuit of homeland security. Europe's reluctance to take necessary steps to tighten security has made America more vulnerable. And unless cooperation improves, Europe will also be increasingly at risk.
In the Atlantic Policy Studies conducted during the past three years by the Council on Foreign Relations four books with a predominantly economic content are being published.[i] The authors and subjects of these books are, in order of publication: John O. Coppock on agriculture; John Pincus on less developed countries; Bela Balassa on trade liberalization among industrial countries; and Richard N. Cooper on international monetary affairs (to be published later this year). From these sources and from others, Harold Van B. Cleveland, in another volume in the series, has drawn conclusions about Atlantic economic relations in his "The Atlantic Idea and Its European Rivals." The purpose of this article is not to review these significant studies but to appraise their conclusions about whether the economic connections and conflicts in the Atlantic are, on balance, moving the nations of the area toward a coherent community in some sense of the word.
