.Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro
de la Prensa-Basm Özeti
'Crushing German dissent • By William Pfaff
Why theU.S. fears Europe
MUNICH joined by much of Central and Eastern Europe, with
Despite Secretary of State Colin Powell's traditionally Atlanticist Britain and Denmark, in
brief appearance center-stage last Wednes- support of the United States and in opposition to
, day, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Germany and France. -
was the Bush administration's star of the The letter was meant to split Europe. It actually
week, seeking the political destruction of Chancellor demonstrated that the split that exists is between
Gerhard Schröder and regime change in Germany. politicians and public. While European govern-
This seems the real current priority of the Bush ments do, not have a common foreign policy, on
administration and its more ardent supporters in some issues the European public does.
the press. Germany seems to Washington the vul- This is important. Prime Ministers Tony Blair of
nerable member of the resistance by "old Eur9pe" to Britain. Silvio Berlusconi of Italy and José Maria
the Bush administration's Iraq policy. France is re- Aznar of Spain are all- with qualifications - supgarded
as a hopeless case. porters of President Bush on Iraq, but the people
President George W. Bush can hardly have been they govern are not. The people can elect new
surprised that Schröder made opposition to an Iraq prime ministers, but the prime ministers can't elect
war part ofhis campaign platform in the parliamen- new peoples., "
, tary election last September: Bush, too, is a killer There is another split in Europe, a permanent
politician who knows a winning issue and how to one, between those who want Europe to be a united
use it. But he, is shocked that Schröder has stuck and autonomous actor in world affairs, and those
with his promise to the electorate. The U.S. admin- who are frightened by the possibility that Europe
istration and its supporters believe that the preced- might lose the Atlantic attachment. The latter is
ent the chancellor set by running on an anti-Amer- ' true for the former Communist countries, and some
ican issue must not be allowed to stand. He must be of the smaller West European states. It is a force in
humiliated as an example to others.
German opinion.
The neoconservative theory that currently gov- As there cannot be a wholly independent Europe
ems official thinking in Washington identifies which does not sooner or later experience some
Europe as the principal future rival and potential clash ofinterests or policy with the United States, it
challenger of the United States. And Germany, follows that only a small number of European states
whatever its current difficulties, is the most power- are serious candidates for a European foreign and
fuI economy in the European Union, and will re- security alliance capable of playing an influential
main a leader of Europe no matter what happens. role in world affairs. ,
This is the first time that a German government This group consists essentially of the core states of
has taken a stand against Washington and refused the old European Community, possibly without the
to back down. The chancellor who does this must Atlanticist Netherlands and Italy, and possibly innot,
in the current Washington view, be allowed to eluding Spain - a nation with ambitions, an imperget
away with it. What Schröder has done is all the ial history, and no great love for the United States.
more dangerous to Washington because he reflects It follows that while a common European foreign
popular opinion across Europe. policy - concerned with other than trivial matters
- The statement by eight European leaders that was - is a quixotic ambition for a 25-member or larger
published Jan. 30 in European and American news- EU, the core European states might conduct a compapers
called for Atlantic solidarity and resolute ap- mon policy, with France and Germany at its center.
plication of Security Council resolutions, but did Washington sees this as a threat, which in a sense it
not endorse U.S.policy as such. is. This explains why the Bush administration is de-
Its effect was nonetheless to align the conserva- termined .to crush Germany's dissent on Iraq ..
tive governments of Italy and Spain, subsequently 1iibune Media Services International
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"« Avec notte sang, nous te protégerons, Saddam' !»
Tikrit, la ville natale de Saddam Hussein, a affiché
son soutien au président irakien, samedi 8 février. Plusieurs
milliers de membres de J'« Armée AI-Qods»
Oérusalem), ont exprimé leur allégeance à l'homme
fort de l'Irak, au cours d'un défilé marquant le 40'
, ,
anniversaire de J'accession du pJI1i Haas au pouvllir.
Les journalistes étrangers 'avaknt été conviés par k~
autorités à Tikrit (11l0 km ,1lI nord dl' Bagdad) pOlir
assister au défilé des miliciens scandant: «Avec IIlItrl.'
sang, avec lIotre âme, /lOUS tt' protégerons. Saddam !»
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