Maybe Bush should announce the formal US withdrawal from the G8 and stop pretending....
Bush Putting Emphasis on Middle East Peace Plan Over G-8 Summit
May 30 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush, scheduled to begin a week-long trip to Europe and the Middle East today, is betting that shepherding peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians will win him more international support than agreements on economics and trade with his G-8 allies.
Bush will stop in Poland and Russia, then spend one day at the meeting of the world's seven largest industrial nations plus Russia before leaving for the Middle East. He plans meetings with Arab leaders in Egypt and with prime ministers Ariel Sharon of Israel and Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority in Jordan to press his peace plan.
``I don't think the world will be much interested in how he patches things up with the Europeans, but everyone will be watching to see what happens in the Middle East,'' said Stephen Hess, a scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington who has written a dozen books on the presidency and U.S. politics
Bush has taken a personal stake in the Middle East peace process after using the issue as partial justification for waging war against Iraq and becoming a lead sponsor of an outline for negotiations known as the road map. That has overshadowed the issues confronting the G-8, such as dollar's slide against the euro and yen and an economic slump in the U.S., Germany and Japan, the world's three biggest economies.
The U.S.-led war to topple Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq figures in both sets of meetings. Bush will be facing the three main opponents of the war, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder at the G-8 summit in Evian, France.
Addressing Skepticism
The president said one goal of his visit to the Middle East is to address concerns about whether he is committed to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and questions about U.S. motives in the war against Iraq.
``I fully understand the skepticism,'' Bush said during a interview with overseas journalists at the White House yesterday. ``The main thing is for them to see me and my commitment to the process.''
Abbas and Sharon have accepted the road map, drafted by the U.S. the United Nations, the European Union and Russia. It calls for an immediate cease-fire between the two sides and requires Israel to stop building settlements in disputed territories. Israel also would be required to withdraw military forces from much of the West Bank and Gaza Strip over stages, leading up to establishment of a Palestinian state in 2005.
Before his talks with Sharon and Abbas at Aqaba, Jordan, Bush will meet at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik with Arab leaders who have supported the peace process, including Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and Jordan's King Abdullah II.
Other Partners
Bush said he'll put the burden on those leaders to help advance peace by cutting off financing to terrorist groups and helping pay for the building of a Palestinian state.
``I expect them to be partners in the process,'' he said.
Bush offered a vote of confidence for Abbas, saying he trusts his commitment to crack down on terrorism.
``I believe he can be successful, particularly if the Arab world helps him,'' the president said.
The G-8 summit opens Sunday involving Bush and the leaders of Canada, France, Germany Italy, Japan, the U.K. plus Russia.
Leaders of the G-8 have given their blessing to Bush's focus on the Middle East, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday. The president plans to leave the meetings on Monday, a day before the summit's scheduled end.
``Everyone understands why the president needs to do this and I think everyone is pleased he is doing it because we have been encouraged over and over to seize opportunities when they come along,'' she said.
Economic Issues
While in France, Bush said he will emphasize his administration's support for a strong U.S. dollar, free trade and taking steps to bolster economic growth within the G-8.
Reaching a global accord on trade, fighting AIDS and combating terrorism ``will be difficult if our economies aren't strong,'' he said.
``We want the Japanese economy to be strong,'' Bush said in the interview with international journalists. ``We want the European economies to be strong.''
Bush said he will ``reiterate our strong dollar policy,'' and will remind G-8 leaders ``that we have a great opportunity in the next round of the World Trade Organization to advance a free trade agenda.''
The U.S. economy has been growing slowly out of a recession, 1.9 percent at an annual rate in the first quarter of the year. Germany's economy, Europe's largest, shrank 0.2 percent in the same period. Growth in Japan, which has endured three recessions in a decade, has stalled. Meanwhile, the dollar has shed 21 percent against the euro over the last year and 6.1 percent against the yen, hurting exports from those countries.
Repairing Relations
Tensions between the Bush administration and some European allies have lessened since the weeks leading up to the Iraq war. France and Russia backed a recent United Nations resolution sponsored by the U.S. to lift economic sanctions against Iraq.
The U.S. is committed to repairing U.S.-European relations, Bush said, adding there is a ``lot of work to do.''
Rice said that among the issues the U.S. wants the G-8 to address are alleviating poverty in the Middle East and Africa and stemming the epidemic of AIDS in developing countries.
Impoverishment is a tool that terrorists use to recruit new members for missions against wealthy Western nations, Rice said. Bush plans to argue that Europe's opposition to genetically altered foods, such as corn, is impeding efforts to eradicate hunger in Africa.
On AIDS, the president may cite a $15 billion aid package he signed this week to help fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean and encourage other nations to make a similar commitment.
In Poland on Saturday Bush will thank President Aleksander Kwasniewski for joining the U.S. and U.K. in supporting the war in Iraq and sending personnel for the post-war stabilization effort.
Bush then travels to St. Petersburg, Russia, Putin's hometown, to help celebrate the 300th anniversary of a city founded by Peter the Great.
Last Updated: May 30, 2003 00:46 EDT |
