Werner Weidenfeld
Director, Center for Applied Policy Research
University of Munich
Munich, Germany
I have read the special presidential election issue with great interest and find your proposal for a "Foreign Policy for a World of Decision" most instructive. Concerning NATO, you are probably right that the alliance should focus towards the south and southeast. However, one should not forget that the Baltic states are, at least for Germany and other states in central and northern Europe, an area of special concern.
What might be lacking in the suggestions are proposals on how to deal with the United Nations. Furthermore, economic issues might be a future area of tension between the United States and Europe as well as Southeast Asia. Is the World Trade Organization adequate to provide solutions? To what degree will the United States abide by them? In my mind, a central question regarding U.S. foreign policy is how America will combine furthering its own national interests with pursuing a multilateral approach.
Helga Haftendorn
Professor, Transatlantic Foreign and Security Policy
Political Science and Sociology Department
Free University of Berlin
Berlin, Germany