WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: It’s Past Time For A Pivot To Europe: Many Americans developed a view in the first decade of this century that Europe was no longer a priority for our diplomacy. We were very wrong.

Even in the depths of World War Two American policymakers were thinking about how we could help promote the emergence of a new kind of Europe after the war. After the war, the Americans promoted the European economic integration that became the basis of the EU, and we provided a security framework and an international economic system that helped Europe recover from the war and build a new kind of international cooperation.

Over the generations since that time, the Atlantic partnership has remained an emblem of hope and an engine of prosperity for the world. . . .

Against that background, the weaknesses in Europe’s policymaking that the Greek crisis places in such a harsh spotlight are grounds for deep concern in the United States. Poverty in Africa, and mounting instability in the Middle East is creating a major migration crisis to Europe’s south. The wars in Syria and the rise of ISIS (and evidence of a jihadi Fifth Column inside Europe itself) present a new kind of security threat which requires new thinking about European defense. An aggressive Russia is pressing on Europe’s weak eastern flank. Unless the EU gets its groove back, a divided, inward-looking EU is not going to be very effective dealing with the growing threats to its east and south, and the already difficult challenges facing American foreign policy will become significantly harder to manage.

Honestly, where this Administration’s diplomacy is concerned, what we need is a pivot to reality.