The World Today

American and British action in Iraq is likely to have radicalised Arab opinion. Moderates and religious leaders have joined more extreme groups in condemnation. Only rapid attention to the Palestinian tragedy, human rights and the rule of law can alter this dismal scenario.

Although military force succeeded in ending the Saddam Hussein regime, and with it the dire threat it posed, many challenges lie ahead in completing another primary objective – the disarmament of weapons of mass destruction. But why were such weapons not used and so difficult to find during the military campaign?

The conventional wisdom at the end of the Cold War on both sides of the Atlantic was that interdependence had grown so close that Europe and the US had no alternative to partnership. Integration was thought to have taken west European states well past any breakdown in relations among member governments. War in Iraq is testing these assumptions.

European often deplore the ‘democratic deficit’ in the European Union. This is only half the problem. The other half is the ‘efficiency deficit’. Both have been exposed by the Iraq crisis.

There were diplomatic casualties in the UN, European Union and NATO before a shot was fired in Iraq. Will international economic and trade agreements, globalisation and economic growth become victims too.

Turkey has not had a ‘good’ war. Its diplomatic march westwards has stalled, and conditions do not look good for reviving it. Events in the predominantly Kurdish areas of northern Iraq have not yet completed their cycle, the Cyprus issue has emerged as a major obstacle to European Union entry, and Washington’s strategic sponsorship of Turkey is under review.