Obama needs Europe in responding to MH17 Crash, but NSA Spying a Bar

[unhappycamper]

http://www.juancole.com/2014/07/europe-responding-spying.html

Obama needs Europe in responding to MH17 Crash, but NSA Spying a Bar
By contributors | Jul. 19, 2014
By Simon Reich, Rutgers University

The tragic circumstances surrounding the downing of Malaysian Airlines’ flight MH17 remain unclear. The three parties who might be responsible – the Ukrainians, the Russians and the rebels – all blame each other. All possess, or have the capacity to possess, the Buk surface-to-air missile system that reputedly brought the plane down.

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The events of recent months have resulted in a reappraisal in Washington’s halls of power. President Obama, somewhat uncharacteristically, has attempted to assert American multilateral leadership in cajoling his European counterparts into taking a stronger position towards Russia, pushing for stronger sanctions.

But the president’s efforts to engage Europe’s major governments have been complicated by two factors. The first is the continued stream of revelations about NSA spying on Europe’s top brass. It is hard to get America’s supposed allies to co-operate when there is no fundamental trust between the two sides, and their domestic constituencies are clamouring for a bold response to American surveillance. Angela Merkel risks looking like a fool if she is seen to rush to support a president whose agency is bugging her phone.

The second factor is less pressing but perhaps more important: stung by two world wars, the Europeans (and I don’t include the British or the French here) have repudiated the use of war and have often expressed incredulity at Vladimir Putin’s naked aggression. They struggle to offer an adequate military deterrent to Russian incursion, even under NATO’s umbrella. Worse still, they remain overly reliant on Russian oil and gas. So they recognise having few effective options when it comes to Ukraine and have adopted a very cautious approach.