Europeeing RAT - how appropriate, ha, ha, ha
Now our RATs should drop DEMOC from their name to join the EeeuuuRATs
BTW what are they watching? Saddam being pulled out of the hole?
Posted on 11/05/2004 7:15:16 PM PST by NormsRevenge
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union (news - web sites) urged re-elected President Bush (news - web sites) on Friday to make a fresh start in transatlantic cooperation, but internal EU differences over ties with Washington refused to die down.
"The EU and its member states look forward to working very closely with President Bush and his new administration to combine efforts, including in multilateral institutions, to promote the rule of law and create a just, democratic and secure world," the 25 EU leaders said in a joint statement.
But the future of relations with the United States prompted a fresh outbreak of public sparring by European rivals Britain and France at an EU summit in Brussels.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) rubbed salt into wounds opened by the Iraq (news - web sites) war by saying that some leaders, whom he did not name, were in "a state of denial" about Bush's victory.
In the anti-war camp, President Jacques Chirac said France would not forget its differences with the United States and believed a stronger Europe was the natural response to U.S. foreign policy assertiveness in "an ever more multipolar world."
The phrase revived a smoldering debate in Europe over whether a more integrated EU should act as a counterweight to perceived U.S. unilateralism or as a junior partner to Washington in re-ordering the world.
France favors the former and Britain the latter, but many European governments are uncomfortable about being pressed to choose between the two.
KERRY SYMPATHY
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who chaired the summit, appealed to Bush to realize in his second term that he needed European help to meet global challenges from fighting terrorism, AIDS (news - web sites) and poverty to stabilising the Middle East.
"I really hope that after the election of President Bush ... he will invest in good relations with the European countries. We're looking forward to these close ties with the United States because we have a shared responsibility for worldwide issues," he told a news conference.
Some EU leaders and a large majority of the European public had openly sympathised with defeated Democratic challenger John Kerry (news - web sites), who promised to listen more to America's allies and seek broader international cooperation.
Blair suggested many Europeans had lost touch with reality.
"I think it's pretty obvious if you read the comments that are made by people around Europe over the past few months, there are some people who have not wanted to come to terms with the changes that have happened," he told reporters.
"I'm not going to go and start pointing fingers at people. What I'm really saying is that we've got to move on now. There's a new reality so let's work with that reality," Blair said.
Bush urged allies on Thursday to put aside their differences over Iraq and work with him in the global war against terrorism.
"Whatever our past disagreements, we share a common enemy," he told his first post-election news conference.
One long-time European critic, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, reached out to the re-elected Republic president, telephoning him on Friday to offer personal congratulations and talk about future relations.
Several of the leaders who supported Bush in Iraq, including the Danish and Polish leaders, urged him to reach out to the whole of Europe and make more of an effort in his second term to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Amen to that. Blech.
What kind of help are they offering? Restoration of the food for oil plan? We don't need their help and the Iraqi government doesn't want their help. These are the greedy opportunists who sold out to Saddam for bribes.
Personally, I'd like the EU to take on the Israeli/Palestinian problem. Wash our hands of that.
U.S. to E.U.: You need to STOP APPEASING the world's terrorists! That'll take care of 99.9% of the world's problems, you socialist twits.
Bush to EU: You need me more than I need you. Seen an American tourist lately? Sold a block of brie or case of wine recently? Keep dreaming about it!
EU - will you even exist in 10 years?
The Europeans -- French, Germans, Spanish, etc. -- are totally despicable and anti-semitic.
We have always been on the moral high ground compared to them.
The Europeans can kiss our butts. The Canadians, too.
-
Communism,
socialism,
nazism,
facism,
absolute monarchies and
czars, to name a few.
Two thousand years and the best they could come up with was??? Oh yeah, they got the Democracy idea from us. Too bad they're not very good at it.
So, let me get this straight.
France, Germany, and Russia block our attempts at building a coalition, with France in particular actively lobbying and bribing undecided nations on the Security Council to vote against a fifteenth resolution, which we withdraw... and we're the ones who need to mend fences.
The last I checked, it's the side who destroys the fence that does the mending.
The Franco-German Axis is something out of a Monty Python skit.
You need to clean up your mess before you critique ours. Sheesh!
"I don't care how loud you scream Chirac, we won't forget about Oil-For-Food scam!"
go blair....i have trouble using the "f" word myself too...f...fr...fra...can't go any further.
LOL.
The need to belly up to the table and back up their bluster and match spending with the USA to solve some of the problems.
But they'd only muck it up. I take that back.
These 25 E.U. countries don't realize they now have 1/25 the influence with the U.S. they used to have.
Europeeing RAT - how appropriate, ha, ha, ha
Now our RATs should drop DEMOC from their name to join the EeeuuuRATs
BTW what are they watching? Saddam being pulled out of the hole?
I think they have it backwards. They need US to solve THEIR problems.
Arrogant SOBs aren't they?
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