USA: This man might quickly assist form Europe’s safety coverage | EUROtoday

Philip Gordon labored for US President Barack Obama for seven years. During Obama's first time period in workplace, he was 5 blocks west of the White House, within the State Department, liable for Europe. After the Democrat's re-election, he moved nearer to the Oval Office. As coordinator within the National Security Council for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf area, Gordon was confronted with the hesitation of a president who was unable to seek out worldwide management, particularly on the Syria concern.

Even earlier than Donald Trump was elected as his successor in 2016, Gordon, whose first title is commonly shortened to “Phil,” left the White House and returned to his outdated house, that of the overseas coverage suppose tanks. There he wrote a e book entitled “The False Promise of Regime Change in the Middle East.” A extremely acclaimed quantity and a bitter reckoning with many years of American overseas coverage that, pushed by ideology, has reaped well-meaning deadly penalties.

Gordon had been within the midst of an essential chapter, the Arab Spring. It had made him, if not a pragmatist, then at the very least a skeptic. But a skeptic who’s open to what others suppose. Not solely within the Obama years, but in addition since he moved again into the White House in 2021 as Kamala Harris' National Security Advisor, few doorways within the West Wing have been as large open as Gordon's. Guests from all around the world and colleagues from the outdated days got here usually to speak confidentially concerning the related information from their homeland.

Since July 21, Gordon hasn't had a lot time for that. As one of many US Vice President's most essential advisors, the 62-year-old is within the highlight. Diplomats in Washington are exchanging heated personnel gossip about what place Gordon might get after November 5, ought to Kamala Harris truly win the election – and what meaning for the remainder of the world.

Dense overseas coverage agenda

“Europeans should feel good about the idea that Phil Gordon could play a significant role in a future Harris administration,” says John Emerson, US ambassador to Berlin underneath Barack Obama. Harris, who was within the shadows till Joe Biden's abdication, “had a dense foreign policy agenda as vice president, and Phil Gordon was part of it.”

As president, she could possibly show how correct the lately intensive PR about Harris's multifaceted dedication is. It stays to be seen whether or not, after a victory over Trump, she’s going to depend on alliances and multilateral organizations like Joe Biden, or whether or not she’s going to even put an finish to his commerce protectionism towards the EU.

Gordon is undoubtedly knowledgeable in his subject. Socialized within the triangle of the White House, the State Department and Dupont Circle, the place America's suppose tanks are positioned, he has been an integral a part of Washington's overseas coverage insider scene for nearly 40 years.

The passionate tennis participant, who has typically been noticed watching soccer in a bar whereas on enterprise journeys, “is more of a cardinal than a tank, he works in an elegant, cultured manner,” mentioned João Vale de Almeida, who got here to Washington in 2010 as the primary official ambassador of the European Union. The National Security Council is the hub for relations with Europe, he stresses – particularly at a time when Russia is at struggle in Ukraine.

Gordon can talk. The alumnus of the Bosch Foundation and the German Council on Foreign Relations speaks a number of European languages, particularly French. He translated a e book by France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy and wrote his doctoral thesis on the protection coverage legacy of Charles de Gaulle. He additionally speaks German, “and he has family ties to Germany,” experiences US diplomat Emerson, together with an American-German grandchild.

Harris' pragmatism

As an advisor to Kamala Harris within the White House, Gordon is presently preoccupied with one concern particularly: Gaza. Whether the Democrat can win towards Trump additionally will depend on Benjamin Netanyahu. If Israel's prime minister continues the spiral of violence, Harris will lose votes from anti-Israel college students and pro-Palestinian activists within the swing states.

Her speech on the nominating conference in Chicago made the fantastic line clear. “I will always make sure that Israel can defend itself,” the vp mentioned, including: “At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past ten months is devastating.”

Not a rhetorical juxtaposition, however an equalization that doesn’t power any instant consequence. That is how pragmatists formulate it.

Stefanie Bolt has been reporting for WELT since 2023 as a US correspondent from Washington, DC. Previously, she was a correspondent in London and Brussels. You can discover all her articles right here.