Fuel to the Flames
'...it's difficult to untangle the political discomfort with U.S. spying from disappointment in Europe about Obama's inability to strike a better balance between security and civil liberties. For example, many Europeans believe that drone strikes in Pakistan are not just immoral but illegal. And as a consequence, they feel that Obama hasn't delivered his pledge to clean up some of the excesses left behind by the George W. Bush administration. Another example would be on detainees, where the Europeans were looking forward to Obama's willingness to close Guantanamo. That hasn't happened yet. And even though Obama has stopped certain practices—renditions and other forms of what some people would call excessive interrogation techniques—there is disappointment in Europe that Obama hasn't gone far enough. The NSA scandal just adds fuel to the flames.'
Charles A. Kupchan,
Whitney Shepardson senior fellow,
professor of international affairs at
Georgetown University