Europe is not graceful acceptor of Bush mendacities ; Bush dismissed criticism of his decision to invade Iraq. ``The policy in the past used to be, let's just accept tyranny, for the sake of cheap oil,'' Bush said. ``Well, that changed on Sept. 11 for our nation.''
wow! Highways Blocked
German police blocked several highways and rail routes before Bush's arrival at Frankfurt airport and during his drive to Mainz. Shipping on the Rhine was restricted and flight movements at the airport were halted for 20 minutes. Companies including Adam Opel AG, the German unit of General Motors Corp., remained shut as workers would have had problems getting to work.
Schroeder ``is very eager to be on a diplomatic par'' with French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, his partners in pressuring Iran to stop developing nuclear weapons,. Peaceful accommodation of the international community's demands on Iran ``is also potentially good for German trade,'' Schroeder stirred US controversy earlier this month, saying in a Munich speech that NATO is ``no longer the primary location where the trans-Atlantic partners consult and coordinate over their strategic conceptions.''
Schroeder's Feb. 12 call for a high-level panel to propose how to ``adjust the structure of our cooperation to the changed conditions and challenges'' was rebuffed by the U.S. and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. ( Holland)
Chirac yesterday declined to endorse the primacy of NATO, calling it ``a fundamental element in our collective security.'' The French leader also said the EU's arms sale ban against China is no longer justified and should be lifted, the day after dinner talks with Bush that both sides described as friendly.
Bush ``has more respect for Chirac than he does for Schroeder,'' . Schroeder, during his 2002 re-election campaign, didn't immediately condemn a German cabinet minister who compared Bush's policies to those of Adolf Hitler. Schroeder later wrote to Bush saying he was sorry for any offense taken.
Germany has agreed to organize a training program in the United Arab Emirates for Iraqi security forces as part of NATO training program. NATO has 110 trainers working in Iraq and plans to expand that number to 160..
Germany is the third biggest donor to the United Nations. Schroeder's Iran diplomacy may add weight to Germany's plan to gain membership on the Security Council,.
, Schroeder opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq; he also declined to send troops after the Jan. 30 Iraqi elections. Against U.S. opposition, Schroeder advocates lifting a 15-year-old EU ban on arms sales to China.
``Schroeder's political situation isn't the greatest, and he will try to strengthen it for the next national elections by not getting too cozy with the U.S. because his voting base doesn't like that,'' `Badly Frayed'
Germans put more trust in Russian President Vladimir Putin than in Bush, The survey of 1,000 Germans Feb. 15-16 by Infratest-Dimap found that 29 percent trust Putin and 24 percent trust Bush. Thirty-seven percent trust neither`` ``In Europe, anti-Bushism has seeped into anti-Americanism.'' used intercepts
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