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Europeans Want Continued U.S. Involvement in Iraq, Middle East

Council on Foreign Relations

Interviewee: Josef Joffe, Publisher-Editor, Die Zeit
Interviewer: Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor

May 14, 2008

Josef Joffe, a German newspaper publisher and longtime expert on European and U.S. politics, says there is unparalleled interest in the current U.S. presidential campaign, in part because of the chance of a woman or black becoming president for the first time. Joffe points to the crucial policy decisions facing the next U.S. president in the Middle East, which he likens to Europe during the Cold War. He says that even though Europeans will not do much to help the United States, “no European leader wants the United States to quit the Middle East. They won’t help the United States; they won’t put troops there but none of them wants the United States to leave.”

As a longtime observer of both the European and American political scenes, what is the general attitude in Europe toward the American presidential elections?

First I want to make a historical note here. Never before in my lifetime have people been following primary elections in the USA as avidly and informatively as in this particular season. They know about “super delegates,” they know about Pennsylvania, they know about how the Democrats have proportional representation and the Republicans have winner-takes-all. I’ve never seen anything like it. This is the most interesting thing I can report about Europe right now.

What causes this—because the Clinton name is so well-known?

Obviously, having a woman and a black running against each other—and each having a solid chance to be president—that has never happened before. Plus Europeans have been taught to hate Bush as the incarnation of evil and/or stupidity; only just slightly behind Adolf Hitler and Stalin. I think there is this idea that anybody who will follow him will solve Europe’s problems with the United States. Of course that’s a sheer illusion.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.