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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (209230)	10/30/2004 4:49:47 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573428

Re: As for Shroeder, I just don't see Germany going right. Germany's Bild goes Republican Luke Harding in Berlin Thursday October 28, 2004 The Guardian There was unexpected solace yesterday for George Bush from an unlikely source: Germany. Bild, Europe's bestselling tabloid with 4m copies a day, yesterday endorsed the president, who it said was far less "wobbly" than his Democratic rival. The president had learned the lessons of history, the paper said, reminding Germans it was the Republican Ronald Reagan who won the cold war, suggesting Mr Bush could become another Reagan. "Most Germans regarded Reagan as a complete fool," the column said. "It's possible that one day we could be grateful to George W as well." The endorsement is astonishing given the level of German hostility towards Mr Bush. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder narrowly won re-election in 2002 by explicitly criticising Mr Bush's decision to invade Iraq. Ever since, relations between Washington and Berlin have been glacial. In the run-up to next week's US poll, meanwhile, Germany's Social Democrat-Green rulers have taken a vow of silence. But few doubt that President Kerry would provoke widespread rejoicing in Berlin. Yesterday Kai Diekmann, Bild's editor, said its support for Mr Bush "wasn't a joke". He added: "Bild doesn't always go along with received opinion. The idea was to start a debate." guardian.co.uk

To: tejek who wrote (209230)	10/30/2004 5:03:02 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573428

Re: Berlusconi is a clown but a very rich one, and so I don't consider him harmless. Prodi attacks Berlusconi for running 'ceremonial' foreign policy By Tony Barber and George Parker in Brussels Published: October 25 2004 Romano Prodi, the outgoing European Commission president, has criticised Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister and his political arch-rival, for running a "ceremonial" foreign policy in which superficiality has replaced substance and Italy has lost influence in Europe. In an interview with the Financial Times at the weekend, Mr Prodi said: "I find Italian policy more and more on the periphery . . . I've not seen any case in which Italy was leading, either with France or Germany or the UK. In the old times, even with terrible merry-go-round governments [in Italy], you would see something." He continued: "It's been a personal choice of Mr Berlusconi, not a choice of the Italian foreign ministry . . . There's just not been any long-term thinking. A picture has been more important. Everything has been ceremonial." Mr Prodi was speaking one week before he completes his five-year term in Brussels and two weeks before he formally launches his return to domestic politics as leader of Italy's centre-left opposition. His aim is to defeat Mr Berlusconi's centre-right government in the next national elections, due by May 2006. Under Mr Berlusconi, Italy has emphasised ties with the US and Russia, and the premier has tried to forge close friendships with Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin. Mr Prodi said Mr Berlusconi, a billionaire media magnate, had displayed the "businessman's mentality that he has been dealing with the most powerful men in the world - if it's Bush, it's Bush, if it's Putin, it's Putin. If you want to have flashy image politics, you always embrace the most powerful men in the world." Commenting on Mr Berlusconi's pro-US policies, which have involved sending a 3,000-strong Italian military and police contingent to Iraq, Mr Prodi said: "I see no field in which there has been any gain - not economic, not political." Mr Prodi, a critic of the Iraq war, stressed that he supported a strong US-European alliance and made clear that, if elected prime minister, he would try to prevent the Iraq issue from damaging US-Italian relations. "I've never had any clash with the Americans, never in my life - except over Iraq," he said. "Even if the long-term interest is to have a strong Atlantic alliance, you must speak up if you don't share a choice [as over Iraq]." Mr Prodi, Italy's prime minister from April 1996 to October 1998, is already hard at work trying to unite the disparate forces of the Italian opposition, which range from the Margherita party on the moderate centre-left to the hardline Communist Refoundation party, under his leadership. 64.233.183.104