While Russia's regional influence has been increasing over the last couple of years, the U.S. has lost much of its credibility in Europe, largely because of its leading role in disastrous military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

President Bush attended his final NATO summit this week in Bucharest, Romania against the backdrop of what many have regarded as an arrogant and unilateralist foreign policy that has been “frayed by the Iraq war.” But one senior administration official said Bush wanted to “lay down a marker” for his “freedom agenda” legacy by promoting full NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia.

Even though Bush was putting “his personal prestige on the line” in supporting membership for the former Soviet Republics, he was forced to check his legacy at the door. NATO rebuffed, a “remarkable rejection of American policy in an alliance normally dominated by Washington.” In fact, some allies even criticized Bush’s “annoying” views on Ukrainian and Georgian membership:

– German and British officials […] criticized the Bush administration for not coming to grips soon enough with the Ukraine and Georgia problem.

– Bush’s comments added some extra interest while annoying German and French officials, who had said they would block the invitation to Ukraine and Georgia.

– “The debate was mostly among Europeans,” the senior administration official said, acknowledging that several allies had balked at Bush’s stance.
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