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Allies part ways with United States - again |
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May 20, 2000 WASHINGTON, MAY 19 (AP) - Some of America's best friends split away to approve dlrs 232 million in World Bank loans to Iran, despite intensive lobbying by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
She made three arguments against the loans: That Iran sponsors terrorism, has not adopted sound economic principles and should not be rewarded while it conducts a "show trial" of 13 Jews on charges of spying for Israel.
The allies, including best-friend Britain and Germany, were not swayed, and joined the majority of the 24-member bank executive board Thursday in approving the loans.
So, what's new?
The United States has gone it alone, or nearly alone, many times.
Currently, President Bill Clinton is discovering that the allies are not eager to embrace the idea that North Korea, Iran and other so-called rogue states pose a potential long-range missile threat and that a missile shield may be the solution even if it punches holes in a 28-year-old arms control treaty.
Javier Solana, the chief foreign policy official of the European Union, French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer all have trooped to Washington, listened to the U.S. spiel and left unconvinced, although they were polite about it.
Fischer told the German magazine Der Spiegel the other day he was worried about a growing political gap between Washington and Berlin.
"I urgently recommend all partners to seek strong contacts with Washington," he said.
A reason for the tension, Fischer said, was the U.S. proposal for a national missile defense.
Daniel Plesch, director of the British American Security Information Council, a private research group, said Thursday the Europeans view the proposal as a Cold War strategy.
"We cannot find a single supporter, any country" in favor of a new missile defense, he said. "There is a concern that the threat is grossly exaggerated."
Russia, which does not want to tinker with the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, is taking heart from the Europeans' skepticism.
Clinton's chances of persuading President Vladimir Putin at their summit talks June 4-5 to amend the treaty are probably slimmer because of the allies' reservations.
Meanwhile, the administration has not had a happy experience, overall, in trying to pursue a hard line toward Iran and Iraq.
France lined up with Russia and China in the United Nations to oppose the U.S. drive to give monitors unrestricted access to Iraqi sites in their search for weapons of mass destruction.
France and some other Europeans see delicious business opportunities in Iran. Libya is attracting attention, as well, despite its listing by the State Department as a sponsor of terrorism.
The U.S. attempt to isolate Cuba also attracts few supporters. Close friend Canada is among the allies looking for business on the island.
And the United States for years often has stood alone, without European support, in opposing condemnation of Israel in the United Nations.
The NATO allies did unite behind U.S. leadership in bombing Yugoslavia to force withdrawal of Serb troops and police from Kosovo. And the peacekeeping operation in the Serbian province as well as in Bosnia is a shared arrangement.
But many in the U.S. Congress question whether the Europeans are carrying their share of the load. As a consequence, the administration's budget requests for peacekeeping operations have been pared. And a feeling that, globally, the United States has carried a disproportionate financial burden has prompted Congress to stall on U.S. payments to the United Nations.
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