US-European rift deepens over Iran (Condi Rice's tour)

[IndianaGreen]

Secretary of State Rice’s tour

US-European rift deepens over Iran

By Ulrich Rippert
7 February 2005

Just a few days after her confirmation as the new US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice began a whirlwind tour of Europe. In the space of one week, she is visiting London, Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Warsaw, Rome and Ankara, where she also met the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. She has also included stops in Tel Aviv and in Palestinian areas.

While many commentators describe the trip as a “charm offensive,” and refer to a relaxation of tensions in transatlantic relationships, the opposite is the case. Behind the exchange of diplomatic niceties, conflicting interests and opinions are being fought out, most central among them the question of Iran.

After veteran American journalist Seymour Hersh exposed US war preparations against Iran, followed by bellicose comments by various US representatives, there is little doubt among European politicians that Washington has begun serious preparations for a military offensive against Teheran. This is a goal that is decisively rejected, not only by Berlin and Paris, but also London.

The German newsmagazine Der Spiegel ran the headline on its front cover last week, “USA against Iran, the next war?” Threats made by US president George W. Bush against Iran in his state of the nation address dominated the headlines of reports on the speech in the German and French press, indicating widespread fear that Washington could take the same approach to Iran as it did toward Iraq.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/feb2005/euro-f07.shtml

[eurolefty]

1. Rice:"We come in peace! We come in peace!"

[ClintonTyree]

2. A "charm offensive"................

Kindasleezy Rice has about as much charm as a skunk run over by an 18 wheeler. Good luck on that trip!