PRESIDENT OBAMA'S EUROPEAN OUTLOOK

The American president finally made it to Brussels, or better to the EU and NATO.  This visit was long overdue. Trade, geopolitics, the Atlantic Community require urgent attendance.  Obama's speech in the Palais des Beaux Arts was remarkable, at times moving. It reminded me more of "Remembrance of Things Past" than of some FDR or Churchill bold visions of a future to be "regained."

Probably this was to be expected.  Putin's grab meets more indifference than indignation, as if Europeans are blase' or resigned.  The Americans show little empathy for the EU's internal cat fights and have larger fish to fry too.  The American president looked exhausted, understandably so, at at a time when too much is at stake, be it in Syria, Iran, the Middle East, the Sunni bloc or Egypt (which might consider a U-turn away from the US).  The most tangible result of Obama's European "blitz" was the meeting a trois (US/Japan/ South Korea.)  He must look forward to his forthcoming "pivot" trip!

Putin's shadow looms larger than Crimea (in reality few lose sleep over the unlawful appropriation of territory, which few care about.)  Anyway, this was only an appetizer.  He knows very well that he can take East Ukraine almost without impunity.  Under a Tymoshenko presidency, West Ukraine might follow because the laws of gravity do not make exceptions for political expediency. Putin is able to play on the asymmetry which exists between the United States and its allies. Sanctions are difficult to bring about, the more so when they obey to different speeds.

The Europeans are more vulnerable to Russian blackmail and it will take time before they become more energy independent.  Besides, they are militarily negligible. They are not doing that well politically either and the upcoming European elections might make that the gap between sollen and sein even clearer, risking de-legitimizing the European grand plan.

As I wrote earlier, I think that "isolating" Putin is a move which will backfire. Maintaining the G-7 would have been a way to oblige the president of the Russian Federation to have to listen to his peers.  Now he will be too happy to be "respected" by the BRICS & Co.  President Obama looks sometimes like a lonely man. There is little or no alternative for most actions he suggests or paths he follows (other than the Putin "penalty").  Critics in the US and outside do not come up with tangible alternatives. The problem Obama has seems to be one of distance, a lack of ability to meet interlocutors half-way. There is a hint of intellectual superiority almost, which comes over as aloofness.

The Brussels address was lofty and at times emotional but I fear that the European audience, cushioned by welfare, wanted more while at the same time reluctant to contribute in kind.  The Belgian hosts, meanwhile, had better get an accelerated "body language" course!  "De Morgen" should also mandate its journalists to read Conrad's "Heart of Darkness".