Why Bush Will Fail in Europe

[98geoduck]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5130903-102273,00.html

"His trip will fail because he and his administration do not understand what really divides most continental European governments from the United States today. At the same time, Europeans are mostly unwilling to confront these issues, because of the trouble with Washington they imply. But, unacknowledged or not, they count.

First is the definition of the crisis. Few Europeans believe either in the global 'war on terror' or the 'war against tyranny', as Washington describes them.
...

The American-led invasion of Iraq is widely regarded in Europe as irrelevant to the reality of terrorism, overwrought in scale and destruction, and perverse in effect, vastly deepening hostility between the Western powers and Muslim society. To most Democrats as well as Republicans, 11 September was the defining event of the age, after which 'nothing could be the same'. Their imperviousness to any notion that this might not be so astonishes many abroad. Many European believe it is not the world that has changed, but the United States.

The second cause of transatlantic disagreement is the American claim to global domination, and its hostility to Europe's acquiring political or military power commensurate with European economic power.

This claim rests on the argument that an international system in which there is more than one major power is no longer acceptable. Two years ago, Condoleezza Rice told the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London that 'multi-polarity' in the past had been 'a necessary evil that sustained the absence of war but did not promote the triumph of peace'. As a theory of political society, she said, it stands for rivalry and competition. 'We have tried this before. It led to the Great War ... '

This obviously is untrue. The simultaneous existence of major as well as minor powers was the political reality throughout modern history, despite efforts to overturn it, most recently by Hitler and Stalin."

[louis-t]

1. Rethugs love to bring up WWII

but ignore the fact that we did the same to Iraq as Japan did to us: negotiating in bad faith and then attacking anyway.

[wtmusic]

4. And also ignore the fact

that by the time the US entered the war in Europe, Nazi Germany had invaded 12 sovereign countries.

[Goblinmonger]

2. My synopsis

Bush will fail because he is an ignorant asshat.

[cliss]

3. 2 observations:

1) He's going over there for some reason. Bush doesn't "do" sightseeing trips, so it must be important enough for him to do it, considering his hated status in the world. He's got to be a security nightmare. But he went over there, nonetheless. Something's up.

2) The fact that he had to go over there points to a huge failure. A failure that just now is becoming apparent to the demagogues in Washington.

They need Europe. But for what? Are they worried about NATO, or the Russian threat in the background?

I read on another thread that Bush is now telling Europe what it must do. As usual, he's rubbing salt in the wounds & just pissing them off even more.

I suspect this has something to do with Iran. Maybe they just found out that Europe, along with Russia, is supplying them with arms, so it'll be a tough nut to crack.

Stupid conniving fool.

[caledesi]

6. Excellent observations! This ain't no sightseeing tour. nt

[caledesi]

5. Great article! Thank you. nt

[CoffeeCat]

7. The trip will mainly fail...

...because * doesn't understand that when you extend an olive branch to someone--you don't poke them in the eye with it and shred their cornea to bits.

Nimrod.

[yardwork]

8. This thread is a duplicate of two others in this forum on the same article

I'm locking this thread. Please continue all discussion about this article at:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x107562

Thank you!

:hi: