Bush falls foul of Chirac over Nato

[CatWoman]

President George Bush's attempt to heal the rift with Europe on Iraq was marred by fresh differences over the role of Nato.

Tony Blair joined Mr Bush in hailing the alliance as the "cornerstone" of the trans-Atlantic relationship, under repair in the wake of the war.

But French President Jacques Chirac backed German suggestions that Nato should take a back seat to the European Union.

Mr Bush hit back with a warning that the "most successful alliance in the history of the world" must not be taken for granted.

http://icharrow.icnetwork.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15219738&method=full&siteid=50102&headline=bush-falls-foul-of-chirac-over-nato-name_page.html

[applegrove]

1. Oh the fuel Bush has given to EVERYONE ELSE!!! n/t

[flamin lib]

5. Fuel? As in gasoline on the fire?

[applegrove]

9. Opportunists the World Over will take advantage of all the 'changes' Bush

is responsible for. So someone wants to not be so foccused on North America and realign all their poles to China, India, Russia. Now is their chance. That is where all the money & growth will be anyways. They are the places that will have the markets and emerging middle class.

All the while Bush does this: :nopity:

[flamin lib]

10. Ya' think he'd learn from Ross Perot who said

the golden rule of holes is when you're in one, stop digging. These people don't particularly like us and he has the nerve to dis them?

[applegrove]

11. I am waiting for someone to take the Great Dictator reel of Chaplin as

Hitler doing a burlesque bubble dance with an air filled bubble of the globe, and replace Chaplin's face with Bush's.

I have these little dreams to keep me going. If Nato tanks the USA will be invading Alberta.

[NYC]

12. No, Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

Bush struck the match.

[hughee99]

21. Actually,

one of the major theories as to how the roman fire began was that Nero ordered the fire to clear land for a new palace (I saw this on this History Channel a few weeks ago). So it's at least possible that they both struck the match.

[NYC]

24. True.

At least it wasn't Nero's objective to destroy the world.

[hippiechick]

2. Oh, NOW he doesn't want to take it for granted ?

What about for the last 4 years when his administration has been telling all the allied countries to go Cheney themselves when they disagreed with him ?

:shrug:

[Supersedeas]

19. today, he is telling the EU to go Cheney themselves, tomorrow-who knows

[marmar]

20. Amen!

The alliance is important when Bush needs it to be important. When it's telling him he shouldn't go to war, it's irrelevant Old Europe getting in the way. On behalf of France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Sweden and every other civilized nation: "Fuck you, W! Go back to Crawford."

[denverbill]

3. Actually, the most successful alliance in this history of the world,

was probably the Allies during WWII, which included the USSR.

NATO might have prevented a war, but it never won one.

[Wright Patman]

14. Well, it sort of "won"

a victory over Serbia involving Kosovo in 1999 with its 78-day 'air war.'

Even so, it violated its own charter as what was left of Yugoslavia had not attacked any member-state of NATO. It was the beginning of "preemption" and, no, there was no "genocide" going on, only a battle between KLA Islamic insurgents and FRY police in the province of Kosovo.

For all who say it was, I ask you, how's that trial in The Hague of Slobo going? Don't hear much about it anymore, do you?

What NATO did in 1999 used to be called "interfering in the interal affairs of a sovereign country." It is poetic justice if that operation marked the beginning of the end of the alliance.

Remember that the Spanish pilots refused to participate in the air campaign a few weeks into it because of the massive collateral damage that the mostly U.S. bombers were inflicting.

It was a warmup for our more-or-less unilateral preemption on Iraq.

[bemildred]

4. Sounds like "Old Europe" ganging up on the Idiot King again. nt

[aden_nak]

6. The UN must not be taken for granted. . . by anyone but Bush?

[benddem]

7. should Bush have referred

to Jacques Chirac as Jacques in his press conference? It struck me as out of place as calling Putin Vladimir and don't forget Poland. He's just a little to informal for the Europeans. I know Germans who've known each other for years who still speak in the formal tense and call each other Herr and Frau.

[MaineDem]

13. But he called Putin "vlad i murr"

I cringe every time that man speaks!

[whistle]

8. Bush is doing to NATO what Hitler did to the League of Nations

...isolate and neutralize all treaties that would stand in the way of America's imperialistic ambitions

[oneighty]

15. Gonzales

The Geneva Conventions are so yesterday.

Bush*; The UN is so yesterday.

Bush*; Treaties are so yesterday.

France and Germany; NATO is so yesterday.

Hey Bush one.The New World Order is not going as planned.

180

[burythehatchet]

16. don't write off that comment folks, that was a threat

[Dhalgren]

17. That's how I read it, too.

The Europeans are very good with nuance - I'm sure they understood it as threatening, as well.

[EC]

18. Oh, so NOW Nato is the "most successful

alliance in the history of the world"? The EU scares this little chicken shit, doesn't it? He REALLY doesn't want to give them more power or increase their legitamacy....

[dutchdemocrat]

22. Go GO GO!!!

EU before NATO.... I love it. Fuck the chimp and his boypuppet in Tonee Bliar. Fuck the "new" Eastern Europeans for suckling the US MIC's teat... let's arm the Chinese, make friends with Lula in Brazil, chummy up with Chavez in Venezuala and work with India...

As for Yankee trade threats, militarily in mind, Russia is not far to the East and have been working around the trillions Americans spend on military with solutions that cost mere millions such as the Sunburst missile...

Go Lads GO!!!!! No more NATO!

[Kikosexy2]

23. Europe...

falls short of telling The Chimperor bluntly to go "f*#K himself"!hehehehe.

[NYC]

25. Reinforcement of old Europe uncooperative, new Europe cooperative.

Mr Bush hit back with a warning that the "most successful alliance in the history of the world" must not be taken for granted.

And in an echo of US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's dig at "old Europe", he pointedly said "new" East European members did not do so.

[drscm]

26. This from a "man" who disdains treaties and alliances?

Who does he think he is?

[NVMojo]

27. Chirac backs German call to revamp NATO

where are my french fries! I thought I heard Bush on the radio earlier today bragging about getting support in Iraq from NATO allies. Then I heard Ms. First Lady on the radio talking about how important Germany is to the USA!!

Ooops!

French president calls for more Europe-US dialogue

BRUSSELS: French President Jacques Chirac on Tuesday endorsed a controversial call by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder for a revamp of NATO, which the United States has rebuffed.

“Europe and the United States are real partners. So we need to dialogue and listen to each other more,” Chirac told a NATO summit with President George W Bush, according to speaking notes released by Chirac’s staff.

“We must also, as the German chancellor has underlined, continue to take account of the changes that have occurred on the European continent,” Chirac said, referring to the end of the Cold War and the rise of an enlarged and increasingly integrated European Union.

Schroeder said in a speech delivered to a Munich security conference 10 days ago that NATO was “no longer the primary venue where transatlantic partners discuss and coordinate strategies” and suggested a high-level panel should recommend how it could be reformed. Some analysts interpreted Schroeder’s call as implying that the EU, rather than NATO, should be the main partner in future transatlantic cooperation.


more...

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_23-2-2005_pg4_5

[deminflorida]

28. France left NATO under DeGaulle....

They have been pushing for a leadership position since they came back in. Granted they are a voting member, and had every right to oppose NATO intervention into the Iraq nightmare - however to think they could walk back in an take over is another story. As far as back seats go, I don't think Poland or the other new former eastern block members of NATO are going to buy into that one.

France and Britan really rushed to Poland's aid the last time the Nazi's
came goose-stepping across their border.

[spanone]

29. Chirac offers NATO and U.S. ONE PERSON! bwhahahahhbwahhaahahahahahahaha

[Zech Marquis]

30. just saw the Presijerk on CNN

dumbass! :eyes: