In Europe, America’s friends are furious, in the Middle East they are mystified and in the Pacific they are merely puzzled.
Mounting questions over the direction of U.S. foreign policy and sweeping espionage operations are threatening to undercut the Obama White House’s claim to have repaired relations with key allies that frayed under former President George W. Bush.
The world is also looking on in alarm at political dysfunction in Washington and wondering whether it will curtail America’s global role. Secretary of State John Kerry warned in a speech last week that U.S. partners are now asking, “Can we be counted on?”
President Barack Obama, already beleaguered over the chaotic rollout of his health care law, now has another foreign policy headache. Europe is in an uproar over explosive new leaks from secrets scooped up by fugitive analyst Edward Snowden.
The European public, which once swooned over Obama, are fuming at claims the secretive U.S. National Security Agency logged details of millions of their phone calls, and even apparently tapped the cellphone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Heather Conley, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia in the Bush administration, said the White House response so far has done little to placate its allies.
“Their approach has led the (European) leaders to up the volume because we are not understanding how significant this issue is for public opinion,” said Conley, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
In Washington, some officials privately disdain Europe’s fury as overly theatrical — because some of the outraged governments are partners in counterterrorism spying themselves and because U.S. intelligence has thwarted attacks in Europe.
The attitude that spying is rampant everywhere, and Europe should just get over it, is also widespread.
“Everyone spies on everybody,” Republican Sen. Marco Rubio told CNN. “These leaders are responding to domestic pressures. None of them are truly shocked about any of this.”
Read more: Spy issue saps U.S. effort to rebuild ties Bush broke | The Japan Times
Mounting questions over the direction of U.S. foreign policy and sweeping espionage operations are threatening to undercut the Obama White House’s claim to have repaired relations with key allies that frayed under former President George W. Bush.
The world is also looking on in alarm at political dysfunction in Washington and wondering whether it will curtail America’s global role. Secretary of State John Kerry warned in a speech last week that U.S. partners are now asking, “Can we be counted on?”
President Barack Obama, already beleaguered over the chaotic rollout of his health care law, now has another foreign policy headache. Europe is in an uproar over explosive new leaks from secrets scooped up by fugitive analyst Edward Snowden.
The European public, which once swooned over Obama, are fuming at claims the secretive U.S. National Security Agency logged details of millions of their phone calls, and even apparently tapped the cellphone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Heather Conley, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia in the Bush administration, said the White House response so far has done little to placate its allies.
“Their approach has led the (European) leaders to up the volume because we are not understanding how significant this issue is for public opinion,” said Conley, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
In Washington, some officials privately disdain Europe’s fury as overly theatrical — because some of the outraged governments are partners in counterterrorism spying themselves and because U.S. intelligence has thwarted attacks in Europe.
The attitude that spying is rampant everywhere, and Europe should just get over it, is also widespread.
“Everyone spies on everybody,” Republican Sen. Marco Rubio told CNN. “These leaders are responding to domestic pressures. None of them are truly shocked about any of this.”
Read more: Spy issue saps U.S. effort to rebuild ties Bush broke | The Japan Times
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