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September 11th 2001, has made fight against terrorism the number one issue of world politics. Warfare is no longer primarily defined as war between states, but between the "civilized world" and its enemies. The war against the Taleban has proven the tremendous distance in military terms between the USA and its allies. This has led Washington to insist on undisputed leadership in defining the agenda of the war against terrorism. As far as the international community is concerned there are deep differences how to define and how to deal with terrorism. While the Muslim world insists on solving the regional conflicts and crisis (mostly the Palestinian problem), out of which terrorism arises, the Europeans would like to involve the UN. The decision taken by President Bush to establish an axis of evil and to resort to unilateral action to bring about a change of regime in Bagdad has deeply polarised the international community. The EU, although far from being unanimous, is moving towards a scheme of European defense and security as distinct from NATO. In this context, not only relations with Russia, but with the Middle East have to be reconsidered. In view of overcoming unilateralism by the US, the EU has to transform its economic weight into schemes of political cooperation involving Russia and the Middle East in order to give substance to its claim to be part of a multipolar global system of powersharing. |