Would the atmosphere be less poisonous if numerous Leftish European journalists had not questioned Bush's competency?
From a diplomatic perspective, whatever the journalists say should be ignored unless, of course, they are attributing insulting statements to government officials, as was the case with the Canadian whack-job.
Agree with Kyoto, but I don't think that disagreement over it was a significant precursor to the present poisonous fog.
In the longer term, how about the declared intention of having the EU evolve into a counter- weight to the United States, which seems to belie the importance of NATO and Atlanticism? Could that be a source of antagonism?
This can only be expected as being a natural development following the collapse of the Soviet Union, nothing to get hot and bothered about. In my view, NATO's usefulness is questionable. It has to evolve into something else--don't ask me into what, exactly--but the US needs to recognize that the old alliance is going to get stressed. The present imbroglio is simply a symptom of the evolution.
A more justifiable source of US antagonism against the old Euro regime, in my view, was the secret French exemption from the ICC. Now, that was perfidious and sleazy. |
