Ted,
Yeah, but Musharraf is trading in WMD with NK and other countries. He may be a better statesman but I think he is mainly a slime bucket.
I would describe it differently. He is running a country full of slime buckets, who are intent on starting a war with India (and losing). So he is walking a tightrope between his extremists India and the US.
Yeah, but this is part of Bush's diplomatic failure. He essentially ignored Germany and France last summer. To some degree he was hopiong that Blair would bring the two countries into the fold but Blair screwed up. It didn't work and G. and F. were kept outside the loop. Plus its no secret that many of Europe's leaders don't particularly like Bush. So this is payback time........the French are particularly good at that kind of shit.
I think Germany was a lost cause, because Schroeder painted himself in the corner (where he was happy and fairly quiet, understanding his weakness - well, until the French showed up), but had Bush paid some lip service to the French, to make them feel important, the problems could have been averted.
Another thing is that last summer, Chirac's opposition evaporated, and he has been running the country without any internal opposition, so he thought he was on top of the world, ready fo face some new challenge - the US.
That gives leaders like Chirac plenty of leeway. Plus, with the EU starting to shape up, they are not as dependent on the US for trade. In fact, they are becoming more and more of a competitor.
I am not sure what is shaping up in Europe, since there are so many internal divisions so many issues to resolve mainly absorbtion of new members, possibly further expansion, new constitution, the fact that the locomotive - Germany - has become the caboose.
That's why I think he may flake out in the end and go into exile.
Yes, and he can say that he is saving Iraqi people from war. But I don't think he will do it until the bombers are in the air, when he is convinced that the French can't save him.
Now OBL is a whole different story....we've got to get that sucker and his comrades before they cause us more damage.
Let me try a conspiracy theory (which you may like). Suppose you were Bush (or Rumsfeld / Rice / Chayney). What would you want to happen first, capture of OBL or successful launch (or even conclusion) of the war with Iraq?
Or let me ask it another way. Suppose OBL was captured a month ago. Do you think the support for war would be stronger today or weaker?
Joe |
