Is Geopolitics back? By visiting four important Asian states in April 2014 President Barack Obama gave new momentum to his long-proclaimed pivot to the Pacific region. The gradual drawdown of U.S. interest in Europe poses new challenges to the ‘old continent’ while opening new opportunities at the same time. Europe will now have to carry more of the burden of its own security. A European Union, however, that takes the necessary efforts to overcome its foreign policy divides may become better situated to improve stability and enhance peaceful relations in its area of influence. A stronger Europe could increase its political commitment in Asia, not only by supporting the U.S. in its difficult task as a regional security broker, but also to pursue its vital economic interest in the region, especially vis-à-vis a rising China. The U.S. pivot is not about forsaking the Europeans. It is a wake-up call for the European countries to continue the path of deeper integration to eventually become a unified global actor. If they fail to achieve that goal they might be ending up as an assembly of marginalized political dwarfs.
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