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Jan. 19, 2005 Tomorrow starts the second term of George W. Bush's presidency. Although many people in Europe were in favour of John Kerry during the November American presidential elections, nowadays you can hear other opinions about president Bush. Sure, the great majority of European civilians and politicians still don't agree with the Iraq invasion and are watching the developments in Iraq with scepticism, but they also are curious about President Bush's promise of more co- operation with Europe. Dutch media, to mention a source of information, had large articles about the new minister for Foreign Affairs, Condoleeza Rice. Will she indeed bring Europe and the USA closer to each other like she is intending to do so? European political watchers focus on the fact that she and President Bush almost always have the same opinion. President Bush himself said in an interview with the Washington Post he admits more co-operation between Europe and the USA is needed to succeed with his own foreign goals. These are good signs, sure. I'm also curious what comes out of it. In case I could give an advice to the new Bush administration, it is the following: make sure you find a solution for the Iraq mess in the first place. Try to make a success of the Iraqi elections, under the given circumstances. As soon as the elections have passed, start talking with the Iraqi government on how they look upon the problems in their country and withdraw your troops in phases. The country will remain a chaos for a very long time, but staying there with more than 100.000 soldiers for many years, only makes the problems for the newly chosen government worse. However, I don't have the wisdom of how to settle the Iraqi problem. President Bush got himself into it on false grounds. It´s up to him to find a solution. Maybe European political leaders can give useful suggestions when the President is coming to Europe at the end of February. Europe is curious about his intentions to co-operate and still willing to do so. ------------ About the author Johan Peters: I'm a freelance journalist/editor from Rotterdam, The Netherlands. I write articles, columns and books. I'm also available for making simple translations from/into English, German, French and of course Dutch. More information about me can be found on: www.johanpeters.net (partly in English). Email Johan Peters: johan.peters@johanpeters.net Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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