Iraq clouds Blair's chances of leading Europe

[dArKeR]

'But is he lucky?" Watching Tony Blair and Dominique de Villepin side by side last week it was easy to recall Napoleon's famous question about any general, and not because of the French prime minister's personal obsession with the emperor.
In war and peace, with politicians as well as commanders, there is an indefinable but unmistakable quality of good fortune that shines on some but not on others. Blair has it in abundance. Again and again, even when things seemed to be going disastrously wrong for him, they have suddenly gone right. In his latest resurgence, he has even acquired new admirers in other European Union countries, who think his points about economic decline are well made.
And yet a dark cloud hangs over Blair's recovery and newfound popularity in Europe, a cloud that comes from the east. Many people in France and elsewhere in Europe, maybe an increasing number, think that Blair is right about the European economy. Few people in France or elsewhere in Europe, and a decreasing number, think that Blair was right about Iraq. That profoundly compromises his ambitions to lead the European Union toward a change of course.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/01/opinion/edwheat.php

[bemildred]

1. Iraq improves Europe's chances of avoiding being lead by Blair.

It's an ill wind that blows nobody good.