Europe is turning its back on the U.S. in favor of Russia: Farmer All across Western Europe â including Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany â and as far east as Hungary, newly emergent right-wing, ultra-nationalist political parties are calling for a break from âÂÂsubmissionâ to American leadership and a fresh look toward Russia, led by President Vladimir Putin. (Olga Maltseva/Getty Images) By John Farmer/The Star-Ledger on May 25, 2014 at 7:00 AM View/Post Comments Barack Obama is a historic figure and his election as president was hailed worldwide as a famous victory. But what awaited him was the worst set of national conditions since Herbert Hoover took the oath on the eve of the Great Depression some 80 years ago. Obama, as we all knew even as he took office in 2009, was inheriting the Great Recession. What we didn’t know was that he was about to inherit something even more unmanageable: a set of global problems demanding leadership that a weary America was no longer eager or easily able to provide, and a changing world no longer willing to accept U.S. leadership without question. A classic Catch-22: foreign problems Washington can no longer resolve by itself, but problems the world deems irresolvable without Washington’s involvement at some level. The American president (and the United States in general) is faulted if any of the globe’s serious woes aren’t cured lickety-split (Syria, for example), but if he attempts to intervene (Ukraine, for instance), he’s ambushed by political critics at home or allies no longer willing to accept American hegemony in such matters — or any matters, it seems. The world we knew little more than a decade ago — the post-war, 20th-century world presided over by America as the sole superpower — vanished seemingly in the snap of one’s fingers. The Great Recession, a mortal threat to economies everywhere, has receded, more so here than in Europe. Globalization’s destruction of middle-class American jobs is still a problem, but stock prices and corporate profits are up, unemployment and mortgage default numbers are down. The worst of the Great Recession, in short, is over and America still reigns as the global economic leader. But that’s far from the case in foreign policy. Take Ukraine, as Russian President Vladimir Putin would like to do. Putin’s seizure of Crimea and the menace he poses to the rest of Ukraine and its neighbors should make him a pariah in the greater European community. Perish the thought. Our Western European allies may deplore Putin’s aggression, but they’re not willing to follow America’s lead and impose Iran-style sanctions on Moscow for fear of losing trade and access to Russian oil and gas. France, you’ll recall, even balked at punishing the savagery in Syria because it does a bit of business with Damascus. But that’s not the worst of it. All across Western Europe — including Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany — and as far east as Hungary, newly emergent right-wing, ultra-nationalist political parties are calling for a break from "submission" to American leadership and a fresh look toward Russia. Alain de Benoist, a philosopher and leader in what’s called the "new right" in France, was quoted asserting that Russia "is now obviously the principal alternative to American hegemony." He’s not alone. A prominent member of the right-wing French National Front denounced the European Union as "the poodle of the United States." And Aymeric Chauprade, the top candidate of the French National Front in today’s elections for the European Parliament, has gone so far as to praise Russia as "the hope of the world against the new totalitarianism." Time was that support for the old Soviet Union was confined in Europe to left-wing parties. The transformation of the far right in Western Europe is a product of several things — anti-Americanism for sure, but also growing hostility toward immigrants, toward the brusque, far-away E.U. bureaucrats in Brussels, and toward a U.S.-led culture that, as Chauprade of the French National Front put it, promotes "enslavement by consumerist urges and sexual impulses." Sound familiar? It should. It’s a mantra the more fevered far-right precincts of the Republican Party here would applaud. All-purpose, all-out anger at just about everything everywhere and at government in particular. It’s understandable. Change is unsettling and change is coming at us faster than ever. But the European far right’s sudden embrace of Putin loses sight of what’s at stake for Ukraine and maybe all of Europe, something best expressed by Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, Ukraine’s ambassador to the E.U., in a letter to the New York Times. "It’s not a civil war in Ukraine, nor is it a bilateral conflict with Russia," he wrote. "It’s a confrontation of two civilizations, a fight for the European future of Ukraine and democratic European values as a whole." It’s also a fight the United States and the American president should be leading — whether a wobbly Europe follows our lead or not. John Farmer is a Star-Ledger columnist. His column appears Sundays. Keep the conversation going at nj.com/opinion. FOLLOW STAR-LEDGER OPINION: TWITTER • FACEBOOK MORE JOHN FARMER Europe is turning its back on the U.S. in favor of Russia: Farmer In politics, we can't keep defining ourselves by what we're against: Farmer Why history tells us to take Putin's foreign policy seriously: Farmer The truth? Some Americans can't handle it: Farmer A world of cultural and economic woes and no revolutionaries in sight: Farmer All Stories | View/Post Comments Related Stories Why help in Nigeria if we don't help elsewhere?: Letter Tax 'free money' entitlements to pay for veterans' health care: Letter

Barack Obama is a historic figure and his election as president was hailed worldwide as a famous victory. But what awaited him was the worst set of national conditions since Herbert Hoover took the oath on the eve of the Great Depression some 80 years ago.

Obama, as we all knew even as he took office in 2009, was inheriting the Great Recession. What we didn’t know was that he was about to inherit something even more unmanageable: a set of global problems demanding leadership that a weary America was no longer eager or easily able to provide, and a changing world no longer willing to accept U.S. leadership without question.

A classic Catch-22: foreign problems Washington can no longer resolve by itself, but problems the world deems irresolvable without Washington’s involvement at some level.

The American president (and the United States in general) is faulted if any of the globe’s serious woes aren’t cured lickety-split (Syria, for example), but if he attempts to intervene (Ukraine, for instance), he’s ambushed by political critics at home or allies no longer willing to accept American hegemony in such matters — or any matters, it seems.

The world we knew little more than a decade ago — the post-war, 20th-century world presided over by America as the sole superpower — vanished seemingly in the snap of one’s fingers.

The Great Recession, a mortal threat to economies everywhere, has receded, more so here than in Europe. Globalization’s destruction of middle-class American jobs is still a problem, but stock prices and corporate profits are up, unemployment and mortgage default numbers are down.

The worst of the Great Recession, in short, is over and America still reigns as the global economic leader. But that’s far from the case in foreign policy.

Take Ukraine, as Russian President Vladimir Putin would like to do. Putin’s seizure of Crimea and the menace he poses to the rest of Ukraine and its neighbors should make him a pariah in the greater European community. Perish the thought.

Our Western European allies may deplore Putin’s aggression, but they’re not willing to follow America’s lead and impose Iran-style sanctions on Moscow for fear of losing trade and access to Russian oil and gas. France, you’ll recall, even balked at punishing the savagery in Syria because it does a bit of business with Damascus. But that’s not the worst of it.

All across Western Europe — including Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany — and as far east as Hungary, newly emergent right-wing, ultra-nationalist political parties are calling for a break from "submission" to American leadership and a fresh look toward Russia.

Alain de Benoist, a philosopher and leader in what’s called the "new right" in France, was quoted asserting that Russia "is now obviously the principal alternative to American hegemony." He’s not alone.

A prominent member of the right-wing French National Front denounced the European Union as "the poodle of the United States." And Aymeric Chauprade, the top candidate of the French National Front in today’s elections for the European Parliament, has gone so far as to praise Russia as "the hope of the world against the new totalitarianism."

Time was that support for the old Soviet Union was confined in Europe to left-wing parties. The transformation of the far right in Western Europe is a product of several things — anti-Americanism for sure, but also growing hostility toward immigrants, toward the brusque, far-away E.U. bureaucrats in Brussels, and toward a U.S.-led culture that, as Chauprade of the French National Front put it, promotes "enslavement by consumerist urges and sexual impulses."

Sound familiar? It should. It’s a mantra the more fevered far-right precincts of the Republican Party here would applaud. All-purpose, all-out anger at just about everything everywhere and at government in particular.

It’s understandable. Change is unsettling and change is coming at us faster than ever. But the European far right’s sudden embrace of Putin loses sight of what’s at stake for Ukraine and maybe all of Europe, something best expressed by Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, Ukraine’s ambassador to the E.U., in a letter to the New York Times.

"It’s not a civil war in Ukraine, nor is it a bilateral conflict with Russia," he wrote. "It’s a confrontation of two civilizations, a fight for the European future of Ukraine and democratic European values as a whole."

It’s also a fight the United States and the American president should be leading — whether a wobbly Europe follows our lead or not.

John Farmer is a Star-Ledger columnist. His column appears Sundays. Keep the conversation going at nj.com/opinion.