Christopher Caldwell, writing in the Financial Times, surveys Europe the question of who might be our friends in Europe. An eight page article with a lot of interesting detail about the various countries, leaders, and parties that may or may not be pro-American. There are a number of surprises here, including the collapse of the Christian Democratic parties’ support, and an expansing support from parties on the Left. Europeans’ reactions to America are, of course, tied to their own problems of integration, as well as Britain’s place in Europe. Complex. This paragraph is especially worth noting.

"In its diplomacy, as in its military strategy, the United States is discovering that it has a very shaky idea of who its real friends are. In the old days, it was very clear where the instinctive pro- Americans, or ’Atlanticists’ were to be found. They made up most of the Christian Democratic parties everywhere, and an influential right-wing rump of the Socialist parties in Germany, Scandinavia and Britain. And some of today’s pro-Americans are still on the right: Germany’s CDU still backs America, as do the British Tories, although not unanimously, and particularly not when Labour is in power. Beyond them, though, today’s Atlanticists are an unfamiliar mix of New Labour (in its British and Dutch variants), continental human-rights activists (particularly in France), Eastern European ex-dissidents and post-cold war parties of the right (in Spain and Italy). It would be surprising if America’s future foreign policy did not take some account of which Europeans like it, and which don’t."

Prohyrogenitus has more comments. (Thanks to Instapundit). Sam Huntington & Anthony Giddens had a conversation on the same theme.