ABSTRACT
The Barak Obama campaign promised to end the war in Iraq, embark on a diplomatic initiative with Iran without preconditions, pursue a new, comprehensive strategy vis-a-vis Russia, strengthen the transatlantic alliance, combat environmental change, stop genocide in Darfur and fight poverty throughout Africa. In Iraq Obama has set in motion a gradual withdrawal of all American troops by the end of 2011. The Obama administration is faced with an uncomfortable situation in which its efforts to reach out with a diplomatic olive branch have been consistently thwarted and the choice appears to be, as the Economist puts it, between an ‘Iranian nuclear bomb, or the bombing of Iran’. In the spring of 2009 Americans totalled less than half of the 58,000 members of the international security assistance force. If nuclear proliferation truly is a key issue affecting transatlantic security, the Alliance needs to be far more effective.
