Both sides are happy with this arrangement on some level. Since its founding, America has believed that force is sometimes necessary in pursuing the “perfectibility” of the world. And Europe owes its current unified “paradise” to U.S. power, which allowed for the reintegration of Germany. In any case, Europe certainly could develop as a military power if it wanted to, argues Kagan. But the first step to developing a better transatlantic relationship is to recognize that the age of American hegemony is just beginning.
The good news is that the divide over Iraq is about as bad as it can get. Nowhere do American and European interests collide more directly than in the Middle East, and nowhere are their contrasting approaches to troublesome nations so pronounced. “Although it is difficult to foresee a closing of the gap between American and European perceptions of the world,” writes Kagan, “that gap may be more manageable than it currently appears.” Chances are, wherever the next crisis appears–the Korean Peninsula? –the debate over how to handle it won’t be so fraught. At the very least, it won’t come as nearly so much of a surprise.
