One area in which the Obama administration has arguably fallen short of expectations is in its ability to persuade European countries to support its policies in the greater Middle East – and particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
As George Friedman has argued, the Obama administration has succeeded in changing the optics of the transatlantic relationship, but has failed for the most part to achieve real substantial policy shifts.
The Europeans – and the Germans in particular – declined to provide the levels of economic stimulus that the United States wanted to combat the global economic crisis and refused the Obama administration’s request to send substantially more troops to Afghanistan.
To offer a German perspective on how to tackle our common challenges in the Middle East, Ruprecht Polenz, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the German Bundestag, will speak at the New America Foundation TODAY from 12:15 – 1:45pm.
The event will stream live here at The Washington Note.
— Ben Katcher
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