Not to forget history, not to be blinded by it either

Abstract

In the sixth month of Barak Obama's Presidency twenty two former politicians and intellectuals from Central and Eastern Europe addressed an open letter to the new Administration. The signatories are worried of emerging trends of 'pragmatism' and 'realism' in Washington's foreign policy. It is rather symptomatic that no worries were expressed in these circles when George W. Bush was in the White House and American prestige was falling around the world.