"The future belongs to the nation that best educates its citizens," President Obama noted this spring. Politicians claim education as a priority on both sides of the Atlantic. German Chancellor Merkel declared education the "central task for the next century."

Big words -- yet the Great Recession is testing politicians' promises. In spite of increased fiscal spending, U.S. students in primary and secondary schools from coast to coast are watching their teachers being laid off en masse, while some districts are installing four-day school weeks to cope with the budget crises. At the same time, students across Europe are demonstrating for better education.

It is almost surreal: As Californians shrug at the 25,000 teachers to be laid off, students in Europe are calling for more teachers, greater spending, and educational reform. Do we not care enough, or are they making too much of a fuss?

The situation in the U.S. was already quite bad; now it is becoming worse. Whereas the student-teacher ration in European public secondary education is about 12:1, in the US it is closer to 17:1. And in the 2006 science evaluation of the OECD's Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the U.S. scored significantly lower than the OECD average -- lower than Finland, the Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Germany, the UK, the Czech Republic, France and 11 other European countries. (The PISA survey is conducted every three years, so it will be interesting to see how these trends have continued, or changed, when 2009 data is released.)

European students might also reconsider asking for more money. With over $10,000 spent on secondary education per student, the U.S. exceeds the OECD average by over $2500 and the EU 19 average by $2,800. More money won't solve the problem, as top-ranked Finland illustrates: with only $7,325 spent on higher education, it continuously scores top places in the reading, writing and science categories of PISA.

Not all is running smoothly in Europe, of course. Integrating immigrants is still a huge problem in many countries, where second-generation immigrants sometimes do worse in school than their parents did. But so far, there have not been massive teacher layoffs -- even though budgets are tight.

The question is how we will remember these times. Will we look back and ask about the educational bailout that should have followed AIG and GM? If, following Obama's logic, the future belongs to the nation that best educates its citizens, it will be a tough road ahead for the recession generation currently in school. Apart from burdening U.S. students with paying off the fiscal expansion, laying off teachers further diminishes their ability to compete in a world demanding highly trained professionals. Perhaps they should be the ones protesting in the streets.

The European Parliament elections turned out to be a democratic disaster. Massive abstention underscored the strong disinterest - if not mistrust - many European citizens have toward the election of their European representatives. This is not good news, now that the European Parliament has begun to wield more authority. In addition, the anti-institutional vote was important. Political parties supporting more European integration actually represent only a small percentage of European citizens. The protest vote is likely to trigger -- or more precisely reopen -- a debate over the legitimacy and popularity of European institutions.

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The Obama administration's creation of a new Cyber Czar position is the latest indication that a new emphasis on societal security is taking the place of America's old narrow-minded focus on terrorism. The Czar position breaks down the artificial divide between national security and homeland security, effectively invalidating a major anti-terrorism paradigm dominant since 9/11. Combined with a renewed emphasis on dealing with climate threats, the new position indicates a new direction for the U.S. - and not a day too soon. Now it's time to partner with Europe to continue that progress.

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The question is not whether the EU will again be ready to expand; it is where the EU ought to end.

In retrospect, the historic European Union expansion of May 2004 carries more than a hint of irony. The accession of eight former communist nations of Central Europe was in many ways a high point for Europe. The EU monitored these countries' transition towards liberal democracy; it influenced their political culture and guided economic transformation.

It wasn't a miracle, as one might mistakenly believe from listening to the European vulgate. But it is safe to say that the EU accompanied a remarkable development. When viewed alongside the quagmire that America was making for itself in Iraq at the time, enlargement became the epitome of Europe's power and of the scale of its ambitions.

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In his much-anticipated Cairo speech, President Obama rebuked the "negative stereotypes of Islam" and faced the Muslim world with a call for "mutual respect." Yet at the same moment, European sentiment seemed to be moving in the opposite direction.

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President Obama has already graced Europe with his presence more than any other continent - and he'll continue that record with upcoming trips to the D-Day anniversary in Normandy, as well as Buchenwald, Dresden and the G8 meeting in Italy,.He has also addressed issues dear to Europeans' hearts:closing Guantanamo, scheduling the troop withdrawal from Iraq, banning torture.

Nevertheless, those expecting a transatlantic love affair will be disappointed. Considering that "Obamania" did not translate into more troops for Afghanistan, a global stimulus spending spree, tougher sanctions against Iran, or even accepting Uighur prisoners, Europe should prepare for a U.S. administration whose policies will be characterized by more pragmatism and less emotion.

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The shift in the Obama administration's policy suggesting a freeze in deployment of the ballistic missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic has rekindled the debate in the two Central European countries about their future security relations with the United States.

Proponents claim that the suspension of the deployment, together with Obama's attempt to press the "reset button" in U.S.-Russian relations, undermines the security of the region. Opponents suggest that the decision on whether to base elements of a missile defense shield in Central Europe is an internal U.S. matter, and that abandoning the Bush policy could in fact enhance stability in this part of Europe by eliminating a thorny issue in relations with Russia. Moreover, even though the Polish and Czech governments signed on to the plan, neither the Polish nor the Czech parliament has yet to ratify the agreement, and popular opinion is strongly opposed.

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Europe's passive attitude towards the ongoing crisis in Moldova shows that when faced with the choice between power and principle, the EU is all too eager to abandon its core values in exchange for apparent geopolitical gains. True, the wise conduct of foreign policy often requires such compromises between what is right and what is necessary. But in the case of Moldova, the EU misjudged the forces at play and made a mockery out of its alleged commitment to a free society.

By European standards, Moldova today qualifies as a failed state. The country's average GDP per capita is only $250, with almost 30 percent of its four million citizens living below the poverty line. It is also one of the main sources of human trafficking on the continent and the break-away republic of Transdniester, which stretches between Moldova and the Ukraine, is a regional hub for money laundering and arms smuggling.

In the eyes of the disenchanted Moldovan youths, the victory of the Communist Party in the parliamentary elections held on April 5th signaled the continuity of this bleak horizon. In scenes familiar to Eastern Europe in 1989, thousands of protesters took over the Parliament building in the capital Chisinau and demanded a recount of the vote, which they claimed was rigged. The regime of outgoing President Vladimir Voronin - himself a former interior minister in the days when Moldova belonged to the Soviet Union - responded with a Soviet-style crackdown. Over 200 people have been beaten and jailed, some without access to lawyers. The body of 23-year old student Valeriu Boboc was returned to his parents covered with bruises and journalist Natalia Morar, one of the key planners of the anti-communist demonstrations, went into hiding after being placed under house arrest. Ten other journalists have been threatened or arrested by the Moldovan authorities. Backed by the Russian government, President Voronin accused Romania of plotting a coup against him, expelled the Romanian ambassador from Chisinau and reintroduced visas for Romanian citizens.

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If it weren't so sad, it would be funny to read Russia's President Medvedev's recent interview with Novaya Gazeta, in which he said, "Democracy [in Russia] existed, exists, and will exist."

Human rights still appear to be a luxury in Russia. Recently, Lev Ponomaryov, director of the Moscow-based Organization For Human Rights, and a leader in the new political opposition movement Solidarity, was reportedly beaten by a group of men outside his home . Stanislav Markelov, whom the Wall Street Journal called one of Russia's top human rights lawyers, was murdered in late January, as was Anastasia Baburova, a 25-year-old freelancer for Novaya Gazeta, which, according to the New Zealand Herald, is the last major publication critical of the Kremlin. Novaya Gazeta also lost three other journalists in the last decade-- Anna Politkovskaya, Yuri Shchekochikhin, and Igor Domnikov.

When I read about a journalist or a human rights activist hurt or killed because of their work, it hits a little too close to home. My father, who never joined the Communist Party, was a journalist at the Ostankino radio tower in Moscow until the end of 1993, when, after several years of trying to get permission to leave the country, my family and I immigrated to the U.S. with refugee status. I grew up knowing that certain opinions I heard at home were those of the minority and repeating them outside our apartment was not a good idea.

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On April 5th, 2009 the Moldovan Communist Party announced that it had won more than 50 percent of the votes and could thus once again reign supreme in Parliament with 61 seats, giving its deputies enough leverage to elect the new president. The following day, thousands of young demonstrators flooded to the streets of Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, to protest the election results. Over 10,000 protesters gathered outside the parliament building demanding new elections and shouting, "Down with the Communists" and, "Freedom, Freedom." Unfortunately, the demonstrations culminated with the storming of the president's office and parliament building on Tuesday, April 7th.

The Moldovan protest had the makings of an orange revolution, but the sight of hundreds of youths pelting police with rocks, smashing windows, and trashing furniture had nothing to do with the Ukrainian precedent.

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