Unfortunately for Europe, the biggest obstacle standing in the way of the greatest reversal in modern U.S.-European relations is a Republican Party on the decline. Lacking a coherent strategy for explaining and justifying the Bush Doctrine, the last option for the party in shambles is obstruction and taking on their favorite bête noir and the future face of U.S. diplomacy, Hillary Clinton. Fresh off the auto-bailout filibuster, the National Republican Committee will be holding "soul-searching" sessions this month to discuss platform issues and the future of the party. A successful block of a coordinated U.S. financial bailout with Europe, and an Obama fumble in his first foreign policy test, may just be what the GOP is looking for.

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The Czech Republic took over the European Union's six-month rotating presidency on New Year's Day amid substantial apprehension across the continent. While Nicolas Sarkozy used the job to fill an American leadership gap during the outbreak of the world financial crisis, the presidency has shifted to an outlier of sorts: a country that does not use the euro, one of the two in the 27-nation bloc which has not approved the Lisbon Treaty, with a fiery Euroskeptic president, at a time when an uneven economic downturn offers the EU its greatest challenge in a decade. And additional tests did not wait long to pop up. In the first week of 2009, Israeli ground troops invaded Gaza and all Russian gas headed for Europe via Ukraine was cut off.

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Anyone who has visited Bulgaria before the turn of the century and returns to the country today might be immediately shocked by the sweeping transformation of its architectural landscape. In the capital of Sofia, casinos and new hotels have popped up in the most unusual of places, replacing the city's older historic appeal with the atmosphere of a gambling resort. At the same time, a quick expansion of nightlife to the city's student neighborhood has contributed to escalating incidents in the area (including the murder of a student early last month) and has earned the academic hub the nickname 'Sin City'.

Behind these changes are a serious corruption problem, a dysfunctional legal system and inadequate regulation under the current administration, all of which have led to a blooming of the country's organized crime network. As the New York Times reported last year, that network has also managed to penetrate Bulgaria's ruling elite. In the process, mafia members have been capitalizing on a thriving construction industry, simultaneously using the opportunity to move some of their operations away from the underground world.

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A large art installation, billed as a collaborative effort between artists from the 27 member states of the European Union to highlight their respective countries, was hung above the entrance to the EU Council headquarters in Brussels this month. But the representations are hardly flattering.

The Netherlands: underwater, with only minarets poking above the waves. France: bearing a sign reading "on strike," stretched across the whole country. Luxembourg: a piece of gold for sale. Sweden: packed into an IKEA box. Romania: a Dracula theme park. Worst of all, Bulgaria: a series of toilets.

Nor is "Entropa" truly what its creators advertised: the work of 27 EU artists, as it was originally sold to both the EU and to the Czech government, which took over the EU's rotating presidency this year. In fact, it is the work of a single Czech artist, David Černý, perhaps best known for putting sculptures of creepy crawling faceless babies on the already weird-looking Žižkov Television Tower in Prague. The other artists don't exist.

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With its tenth anniversary on January 1, 2009, the euro has come of age. Sixteen European countries now use the euro as their national currency and the popularity of the euro for foreign reserves is on the rise. Policymakers have breathed a sigh of relief as the currency has so far withstood the current economic downturn, including crises in large multinational banks such as Fortis and Dexia.

But congratulations are premature. The euro area has yet to demonstrate its cohesiveness when confronted with the growing economic divergence of its member states and even the specter of a sovereign debt default.

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To the average American, Cyprus is a nondescript island in the Mediterranean - or perhaps an ancient parchment used in the times of the Pharaohs. But to practitioners of international conflict management, it presents one of the world's most puzzling and intractable conflicts.

Last week I joined the SAIS Conflict Management department on a research trip to Cyprus to examine the roots of the conflict and the current positions of the two sides, with an aim toward providing constructive recommendations for progress towards a settlement. We came away with the impression that ordinary Cypriots today in fact want integration - but their politicians lack the political will to push for compromise.

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The gas supply crisis between Russia and the EU has been resolved; the larger crisis in Ukraine has just begun. In what has become a regular ritual, gas deliveries to Europe via Ukraine were halted for two weeks in January as the Russian and Ukraine argued over debt, shipment fees, and the price of gas sold to Ukraine. With EU intervention, Russia and Ukraine agreed to resume shipments to Europe. Europe is now breathing a sigh of relief, but Ukraine is wincing at the new price it will have to pay for domestic gas and implications for its economy.

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