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  • Newsart for The European-American Dream

    The European-American Dream

    MADRID – Today, three European countries are among the world’s seven largest economies. Ten years from now, only two will remain. By 2030, o…

  • Newsart for Transatlantic Free Trade?

    Transatlantic Free Trade?

    MADRID – This month, the United States National Intelligence Council released a sobering report entitled Global Trends 2030: Alternative Wor…

  • Newsart for America’s Perilous Pivot

    America’s Perilous Pivot

    MADRID – The Pacific or the Middle East? For the United States, that is now the primary strategic question. The violence in Gaza, coming as …

  • Newsart for The World After November

    The World After November

    MADRID – On November 6, either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney will emerge victorious after an exhausting electoral race, setting the wheels in …

  • Newsart for A Europe for the World

    A Europe for the World

    MADRID – Despite the welter of economic problems surrounding Europe, one fact should not be forgotten: the European Union remains the world’…

  • Newsart for Iran Confronts Reality

    Iran Confronts Reality

    MADRID – Who has not seen what looks like water on a highway on a hot summer’s day? Or a three-dimensional image that was actually a picture…

  • Newsart for Toward a Syria Consensus

    Toward a Syria Consensus

    MADRID – The feeling is growing stronger by the day that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime is approaching a tipping point. Kofi Anna…

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Javier Solana: The Peacemaker

Can diplomacy work when confronting states like Iran and North Korea? Has the euro crisis caused the European Union to neglect relations with Turkey, Russia, and other neighbors? Will a decade of war in Afghanistan discourage NATO from out-of-area commitments in the future? Can the US remain the world’s pre-eminent power if the dollar ceases to be the world’s pre-eminent currency?

The most important foreign-policy successes are not those that end a war or resolve a crisis, but those that prevent wars and crises. They result not from grand gestures or brinkmanship, but from patient, quiet, painstaking effort to foresee and prioritize problems, build and maintain coalitions, and uphold core values.

By these standards, Javier Solana, perhaps the most ubiquitous European diplomat of the post-Cold War era, is a born peacemaker. In every setting, from the Balkans to the Middle East and beyond, the source of his effectiveness as a diplomat has been easy to discern: a strong constitution, a subtle understanding of the players and interests involved, and the stamina and strategic patience needed to keep a deal together.

As Spain’s foreign minister in the early 1990’s, Javier Solana spearheaded the EU’s efforts to deepen ties in the Mediterranean region. As NATO Secretary-General in the second half of that decade, he oversaw France’s return, after 30 years, to the Alliance’s military structure, while confronting the slow-motion nightmare in the former Yugoslavia. And, as the EU’s High Representative for the Foreign and Security Policy, he concluded treaties with countries from Latin America to the Arab world, and led negotiations to resolve conflicts near and far.

Javier Solana has stood near the pinnacle of power – and participated in the frequently tragic tradeoffs it requires. In his monthly series The Peacemaker, available exclusively from Project Syndicate, he provides readers an unvarnished – and therefore indispensable – behind-the-scenes view of the world of statecraft.

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Javier Solana

Javier Solana was EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary-General of NATO, and Foreign Minister of Spain. He is currently President of the ESADE Center for Global Economy and Geopolitics and Distinguished Fellow at the Brookings Institution.

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