Edited sentence: As for Europe's relations with the rest of the world, the U.Many believe that Russian president Vladimir Putin fears that the EU is rapidly moving towards having a border with the Russian Federation, country by country.S- led "War on Terror", and the friction between the EU and Russia over the expanding borders of the Union are causing an increasingly cold relationship with the rest of the world.Such issues as the Ukraine elections have only confirmed this.Such moves as the EU fines hovering over Microsoft and the withdrawal of Spain from the war on Iraq are only intensifying the tensions.The United States has always felt that it could rely on France in its hour of need, based on the French intervention in the American War of Independence against Great Britain, but in a twist of fate, the United Kingdom is now the US's last remaining major ally, barring Canada and Australasia, as NATO and the UN have appeared to become defunct.The other tensions lie between Russia and the EU.The refusal by most of so-called "Old Europe", led by France and Germany, to partake in the invasion of Iraq is one prime example of this.This is worrying the EU as Russia is their largest supplier of natural gas, some even going as far as to suggest presenting Russia with membership of the EU.This refusal by France and Germany has sparked tensions between the US and the EU; either side of the Atlantic Ocean believe that the other is trying to humiliate the other