A rising number of military, trade, and political disputes mark these relations, even as the U.S. ruling class seeks to win various nation states on the continent to its side, utilizing the conflicts among a number of European powers to its own advantage.

The antiballistic missile weapons system and relations with Russia are high on the agenda in this conflict. Speaking from Rome on July 18, U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell stated that he wanted to make it crystal clear to the Russian government that Washington will be putting in place an antiballistic missile shield with or without the support of any other nations. "I have a hunch that when they hear us out, they will find that it is in their interest to move in this direction because we are moving in this direction, hopefully in a cooperative basis," he said. "But if not, we are still moving forward."

In a news conference held that same day, and shortly after signing a treaty of "friendship and cooperation" with Chinese president Jiang Zemin, Russian president Vladimir Putin stated that the Russian government is not planning any "joint response" with China if Washington proceeds to develop and deploy its missile shield.

Turning to the issue of the U.S.-led NATO imperialist military alliance and its drive to expand membership into central and eastern Europe, Putin said that the Russian government does not see NATO as a "hostile force." He stated that he also didn't see why NATO was "needed." The best option would be to "dissolve" NATO, he said, but this was "not on the agenda." The Russian president added that the next-best option would be to "include Russia in NATO," or to set up "a new organization" that would manage a "single defense and security space" in Europe.

Putin was referring to statements made by Bush during his previous trip to Europe, during which he met with Putin after making a major foreign policy speech in Warsaw. In the speech he said Washington favored a Europe that included all countries "from the Baltic to the Black Sea" including Ukraine. He said "Europe's great institutions--NATO and the European Union--can and should build partnerships with Russia and all countries that have emerged from the wreckage of the former Soviet Union." Bush urged the major European powers to accept both "the burdens and the benefits" of the massive financial obligations down the road as the imperialists attempt to reimpose capitalism on the workers states of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.  
 
Economic competition
The inter-imperialist economic competition between Washington and the European powers of Germany and France especially have been generating sparks as the downturn in the world capitalist economy takes hold.

The European Union said July 19 that it would launch more than a dozen separate World Trade Organization (WTO) cases in an effort to overturn U.S. duties on European steel companies. This moves came after U.S. commerce secretary Donald Evans said that Washington would not drop the tariff penalties it imposed against privatized steel companies in Europe despite a WTO ruling last year finding such duties imposed against Corus (formerly British Steel) illegal according to WTO trading rules.

According to the Financial Times, "There are 12 outstanding cases where the U.S. continues to impose such duties on steel products made by EU companies, the EU says. Five affect Italian companies, three French, plus one each for Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the UK."

At the end of June the United States lost a trade case to the European Union in which a World Trade Organization panel ruled that Washington's $4 billion tax break for exports violates international trade rules. The EU can impose tariffs worth $4 billion on U.S. products if the ruling holds, and maintain them until Washington ends the tax break. U.S. trade representative Robert Zoellick told EU officials that exercising their right to carry out sanctions "would be like using a nuclear weapon" on global trade. He then formally asked the U.S. International Trade Commission for a broad investigation into the cause of increased steel imports to the United States. Companies that benefit from the export tax break include General Electric, Boeing, Caterpillar, and Microsoft.

European powers in France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Spain have been bucking Washington's 1996 Iran-Libya Sanctions Act with increasing investments into oil and gas projects in Iran, with $5 billion in deals this year. The U.S. government reserves the right to impose penalties against foreign companies who don't adhere to its ban on investments in the two countries, but has so far demurred from taking action. "We are looking at these developments with concern but do not anticipate dramatic action," said one White House official, who added the administration does not now want "to pick fights with Europe or other allies" over the issue.

These examples help illustrate the volatility in U.S.-European relations given the geographic, economic, and political connection of the continent to the resource rich and strategic Middle East. It has been, and will remain, one of the flash points in the inter-imperialist conflict.

An editorial in the July 9 Investors Business Daily addressed some of these questions on the eve of Bush's visit to Europe. "This year the U.S. has a long list of gripes--and some major bones to pick--mainly with the European Union," the piece begins without any subtlety, pointing to the "dangerous protectionist and anti-growth trends in Europe that threaten to sink the world economy. The EU's recent rejection of the $41 billion GE-Honeywell merger and its rabid, near irrational support of the hugely costly Kyoto global warming treaty, are just the latest examples."

The paper urged the Bush administration to "take a stand against the growing European superstate. Its growing arrogance has the makings of a serious problem for the U.S. and the rest of the world." Complaining that "European industries" such as Airbus are protected from competition, the editorial says Washington "can't stand by... as the EU interferes with our domestic economy."  
 
War in Yugoslavia
The continuing war on the European continent in Yugoslavia adds a factor of instability to the region and has heightened the competition between the imperialist powers. While trying to speak with one voice together with the U.S. government, disagreements have marked the response by European powers to the widening military conflict in Macedonia, drawing Berlin, London, and Washington more deeply into military intervention there.

The regime in Serbia has criticized the EU for stalling in providing the funds pledged last month at a conference organized by the World Bank and European Commission. At this "donors" conference--coming right after Belgrade turned over former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic for prosecution by the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands--imperialist governments pledged a total of $1.2 billion in aid, much of it to be used to subsidize the regime's basic budgetary expenses, such as to pay public sector employees and for heating fuel, electricity, and medical supplies. Washington at the time pledged $180 million while European governments promised more than $600 million. The Financial Times reported the aid "became caught up in a tussle between European Union foreign and finance ministers" over "how aid should be disbursed."

Within the EU itself, plans to push toward launching a single currency and to expand from 15 to up to 25 countries are bringing with it more destabilization and volatility.

For example, there are growing tensions between Greece and Turkey over moves by Cyprus to join the EU. The Greek Cypriot government, which comprises two-thirds of this island nation of 750,000 people in the Mediterranean Sea, has since 1997 been granted the status of full candidate for membership.

Cyprus gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1960, which included constitutional guarantees by the Greek Cypriot majority to the Turkish Cypriot minority. In 1974, an attempt by the government of Greece to seize the government was met by military intervention from Turkey, which now controls one-third of the island. In 1983, the Turkish-held area declared itself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, but it is recognized only by Turkey.

In 1998, Athens threatened to veto EU membership for Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, and Estonia, all of which are currently under negotiation, unless Cyprus was also included in this list.

Meanwhile the Greek-led Cypriot government made clear July 18 that if it gains EU membership with the nation still politically divided it will block Turkey's moves to join the EU. "If no agreement is reached by the time we join," stated Theophilos Theophilou, Cyprus's permanent representative to the EU, "Turkish Cypriots will be deprived of the benefits of enlargement and Turkey will have a Cyprus in the EU having a say and a vote" and "a veto over accession of Turkey [to the EU]."

Commenting on this "brewing crisis," Financial Times reporter William Wallace, pointed out, "The barbed wire, military checkpoints and UN forces that divided Nicosia will become part of the EU's external frontier within three years unless western governments put pressure on all sides."

The Turkish government is holding onto a trump card it has from its membership in NATO. Despite reports of an earlier agreement, Turkey says it will refuse to let a planned European Union 60,000-strong rapid reaction military force use NATO assets. Since the European force would need to use NATO's military bases, aircraft, and other capabilities, the stance by the Turkish government effectively blocks deployment of the force.

In a major provocation against the Czech Republic, the German government has urged it to shut down a nuclear power plant located near the German and Austrian borders that is scheduled to go fully on line. "The news sent shares in the main Czech utility crashing and raised new questions about the Czech Republic's plans to join the European Union," stated a New York Times article. After a cabinet meeting July 18, the Czech prime minister, Milos Zeman, rejected the German rulers' call to close the plant, which is located near the village of Temelin. The two 1,000 megawatt units are expected to be a major source of electricity for the country as well as a source of energy export earnings. Officials in neighboring Austria have threatened to block the Czech Republic's entry into the EU if the plants are not closed.  
 
 
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