Posted on 06/15/2004 1:00:09 PM PDT by Nasty McPhilthy
Bush Conquers Europe
France and Germany find themselves in a box, and John Kerry loses one of his reasons for running.
by Irwin M. Stelzer 06/15/2004 12:00:00 AM
IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE that it has been only one week since the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion that liberated France from the Nazis. A lot has changed in a mere seven days.
Start with the international scene. George W. Bush, Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schröder took their act from Normandy to Sea Island Georgia, where they were joined by other members of the G-8 and assorted interested parties. There, Chirac proved once again that a chasm exists between his words and his deeds. "France will never forget what it owes America," the French president told some 6,000 D-Day veterans and assorted guests in his talk last Sunday in the Norman coastal town of Arromanches. A few days later he opposed America's requests for deeper involvement of NATO in the pacification of Iraq, saying such a move would not be "opportune"; fought to water down Bush's program to foster the growth of democratic institutions in the Middle East, stating that he opposed such "missionary" work; and responded with a vigorous "non" to Bush's plea that Iraq's creditors join America in forgiving "the vast majority" of the debts incurred by Iraq during Saddam Hussein's regime. (Within the G-8 nations, Japan is owed $4.1 billion, Russia $3.5 billion, France $3 billion, Germany $2.4 billion and the U.S. $2.2 billion.) And just to make certain that none of the anti-American voters at home gets any idea that he has moved too close to the Americans, Chirac decided to pass up president Reagan's funeral to keep an unspecified "previous commitment" in Europe.
Gerhard Schröder is in a more difficult position than the French friend with whom he has formed an alliance forged in steel. He is riding a tiger: he has whipped up anti-American sentiment, and ridden the wave of anti-Americanism to electoral triumph. But he now wants to open markets and investment opportunities in the countries that have recently joined the European Union, and to cozy up to the delegates they will be sending to the various E.U. institutions. Unfortunately for him, eight of these countries remember that it was American steadfastness in the Cold War, and Ronald Reagan's decision to replace containment with victory as his policy goal, that got them out from under the Russian boot. So these countries, and the German business community, are telling Schröder to tone down his anti-American rhetoric--which he can't do without antagonizing the voters he has persuaded to hate America in general and George W. Bush in particular.
TO ADD TO the Franco-German discomfort, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved the new Iraqi government, led by Ghazi al-Yawar, who was educated in America. And when the heads-of-state show moves on to Istanbul later this month for the NATO summit meeting, after a two-day stop in New Market-on-Fergus in Ireland for an E.U.-U.S. summit meeting, Chirac is likely to find that his resistance to NATO involvement in Iraq's reconstruction will be ignored by an organization desperate to prove that it is relevant to the 21st century. All in all, it seems that in a single week the reputations of George W. Bush and Tony Blair have moved from the valley of despair to the bright uplands reserved for those who get it right in the tough world of geopolitics.
But who's looking?
Better yet: All in All, Not Bad!
Sound familiar?
Like Bill O`Reilly said of Jackass Ch-Iraq, "This is one bad guy" Uhhh geee, no kidding! I heard that mental patient Ted Rall wrote a thesis in College on Americas plans to overtake France in WW2. To most people D-Day was considered the begining of the liberation of Europe, to Ted Rall it`s imperialism, but then I go to thinking... WE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THAT TOILET BOWL OVER!!! ha ha!
All of this geopolitical toing-and-froing overshadowed some important developments on the economic front. With Japan now firmly on the path to growth, Europe is the world's principal laggard. Treasury Secretary John Snow called upon the European Union to rely less on export-led growth, which adds to America's trade deficit, and to take steps to accelerate domestic demand. But the Europeans are engaged in a blame game. Schröder and Chirac blame the European Central Bank for keeping interest too high, while the ECB blames France and Germany for violating the fiscal rules of the Growth and Stability Pact--and for refusing to reform their labor and product markets. The funny thing is that both the ECB and its critics are probably right--the one-size-fits-all interest rate set by the ECB is too high to maximize growth in France and Germany, and the French and Germans' refusal to institute economic reforms is holding back their economies. The most optimistic forecast is that the European economy will grow at an annual rate of about 1.5 percent this year, about one-third that of the United States. NOT ALL THE NEWS from these meetings is gloomy. The heads of state did manage to pronounce themselves in favor of a resumption of trade-opening talks, and to promise to reduce trade-distorting agricultural subsidies and barriers to access. Whether those pledges can survive the pressures of the American presidential campaign is not certain. Bush is showing commendable courage by defending free trade as a creator rather than a destroyer of jobs, and ridiculing calls to end outsourcing. He has also had the Commerce Department cut anti-dumping duties on Chinese television sets to levels that will have minimal impact on China's TV manufacturers. All of this is a misfortune for John Kerry. His campaign rests on a three-legged stool. The first leg is that Bush is a job-destroyer; but the economy has created almost one million jobs in the past three months, and is probably adding better than 10,000 every day. The second leg is that Bush has antagonized America's allies and is isolated; the 15-0 Security Council vote to recognize the Bush-backed Iraqi government saws that leg off. The final leg is that the Bush tax cuts have been a disaster. Ronald Reagan's death has brought renewed attention to the fact that the late president's tax cuts helped to end the recession he inherited from Jimmy Carter, just as Bush's cuts kept the Clinton recession short and mild. Not a good week for the president's foes, here and abroad. Irwin M. Stelzer is director of economic policy studies at the Hudson Institute, a columnist for the Sunday Times (London), a contributing editor to The Weekly Standard, and a contributing writer to The Daily Standard.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/231muvnw.asp?pg=2
"Bush conquers Europe post-Kerry" would have been a better title. Remember these "european" heads of state support Ketchupman as he would let everyone believe.
This from the man whom John Kerry considers such an "ally" that he would essential defer to France before the US does anything in the world.
The next war in Europe, loser keeps France.
And John Kerry's talking about the Great Depression!
John Kerry, Knows a lot about the "great depression" from his first wife.
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All of this is a misfortune for John Kerry. His campaign rests on a three-legged stool. The first leg is that Bush is a job-destroyer; but the economy has created almost one million jobs in the past three months, and is probably adding better than 10,000 every day. The second leg is that Bush has antagonized America's allies and is isolated; the 15-0 Security Council vote to recognize the Bush-backed Iraqi government saws that leg off. The final leg is that the Bush tax cuts have been a disaster. Ronald Reagan's death has brought renewed attention to the fact that the late president's tax cuts helped to end the recession he inherited from Jimmy Carter, just as Bush's cuts kept the Clinton recession short and mild. Not a good week for the president's foes, here and abroad.
I hate to say this, but to be fair ... that is somewhat the case in every election.
If things go well, it is good for the incumbent. If things fall apart, it is bad for the incumbent, thus good for the challenger.
The distinction with kerry is that he wants America to go down the toilet even after the election.
Good point. The crucial factor is that in order to be elected Kerry is advocating policies that would harm America. Compare that to a Reagan who offered better ideas and character than did a sitting Carter.
bttt
I know, right? Who would want that country. Nobody wants to work and they eat cheese all day. Hey it`s also an absolute fact, not making this up, France uses the least amount of soap out of any country in the world. At first I thought how can that be? I mean you have some countries that are so poor that the last thing they would want to buy would be soap. But then I thought, even if you only made 20 bucks a year, there still would be a time in that year where you would wash with soap at least once or twice. Maybe there`s a sliver that the town shares or something. The French on the other hand use the least because they don`t WANT to use it! It isn`t a matter of washing with it every so often, they just don`t like soap! They like mouldy cheese, things that stink. Everything that stinks they eat, that`s why Warner Bros. made those Pepe Le Pew cartoons, the French skunk who stinks. Out of all the countries in the world, they chose the French to portray as a stinky skunk.
Well, what the writer seems to forget is that since Schroeder has exhibited his anti-americanism he has LOST every single state election with his party SPD getting a RECORD low of 14%. Couple of more bad months for him and there will be new elections in Germany.
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