The Foreign Service Journal, February 2012

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 2 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 17 he European debt crisis profoundly threatens the economic health of the United States and the trans-Atlantic alliance, two cornerstones of U.S. foreign policy since the end of World War II. A failure of Eu- ropean leadership threatens to drive both Europe and the United States, and perhaps the entire global economy, back into recession after the worst economic setback since the Great Depression. Worse still, the two allies will not be able to shape a world order friendly to our interests and Western values if the euro zone fractures or the European Union splin- F OCUS ON THE E URO Z ONE D EBT C R I S I S E UROPEAN D EBT , THE T RANS -A TLANTIC A LLIANCE AND U.S. F OREIGN P OLICY T HE E UROPEAN DEBT CRISIS SHOULD BE A WAKE - UP CALL FOR THE F OREIGN S ERVICE TO ADAPT TO NEW CHALLENGES . B Y A LAN L ARSON Jeff Lau T