Today, the US senate agreed to give president GWB the right to start a war without having to ask anyone after the parliament had already voted for it yesterday. That one should be obvious.

The other currently interesting news come from Italy! Berlousconi's government has passed a law making it possible to switch the city a court is taking place in case there are doubts about the objectivity of the judges. That doesn't sound very harmful, but opposition claims this is only to protect members of the government itself: Berlousconi is being sued in Milan at the moment and so is one of his closest advisors! I don't know enough of the backgrounds of this law or the lawsuit against Berlousconi, but I can at least easily imagine the accusations are true...

The news about Bush doesn't amaze me anymore, it seems like everyday someone in the American government proposes something new like this... I think it's pretty clear by now that any opposition to Bush will have to come from Europe, and not even Europe as a whole because Bush has Tony Blair licking his boots by now... Our minister of foreign affairs has a good approach I think, very much like the Germans (correct me if I'm mistaken) he wants to reduce military support for the US to a minimum, and grant it only if necessary, unlike some others (eg. Blair) who seem to feel the time is right to jump on Bush's bandwagon now. Also America is getting plenty of opposition because they are against certain UN treaties (especially concerning Iraq).

I hope this more 'relaxed' European approach will make some hot heads cool off...

And about Italy: I hadn't heard of that, but I have two little things to say about that; First off I believe the correct spelling is 'Berlusconi', and second: I've heard he is quite a demagogue and media-manipulator...
So although I didn't know of this recent affair I guess he's quite a dangerous figure to have around in politics...

The German government's policy is in fact no involvement in a war on Iraque at all, in no way. I think this is only a result of the election campaign of the government parties, but now they have to stick to it.

Italy: B. (to avoid the spelling confusion ) owns several TV stations and papers himself, he would be a fool if he didn't use this power...

"iraque"??? I have NEVER seen iraq spelled that way before!

Argh! It happened again

?

That is my most common spelling mistake

The carte blache for Bush was to be expected. What I'm curious to see is how Europe holds up. If the EU, as whole, manages to maintain coherence on the issue, and doesn't rush headlong in support of whatever it is the US hope to achieve with this, it'll probably be the first time Europe manages to define a common foreign policy on an issue, independently from the United States (except for Britain, of course). That will most likely be a good thing, as it will help bring a little more balance to the world stage.

I see some interesting connections here: Bush gets a carte blanche (by the way, half of the Democrats voted for it, too), and the next day the stock market has one of the best days in months. Sounds to me like lots of people like it .

The current US government is not only against certain UN treaties, it is about to destroy any past attempts to establish a "global" diplomatic policy. The work of several decades (e.g. dozens of contracs concerning disarmament) is destroyed. Any international contract dealing with the right of humans and countries is useless as long one country starts a war against an independent country whenever it wants. If such a policy becomes legitimate unrestrictedly again, we're back in the stone age.


Unfortunately, it wouldn't help much if they really found a common policy. Only Great Britain and France are represented in the UN security council, and therefore they are the ones thar can influence the decisions that could be important in the end. And France (French companies) has distinct economic relation with Iraq, which will influence their vote.

The sick thing about that is not that this is considered the more important event, but that the stocks went up because of this war!

Correction: they are the only European countries in the security council which have veto rights. Germany for example only just got elected into the security council as a 'temporary member', too.

It's not just about the votes in the security council: they're important, but not crucial, as Bush seems to be willing to completely disregard the UN on this issue. It's about legitimacy. It's one thing for the US to attack Iraq as part of a global multinatinal coalition, as they did in the Gulf War. It's a very different thing for them to go it alone, looking like a loose cannon seeking revenge, and not like the heralds of righteous justice. That's the main reason Bush has been trying (with moderate success) to woo European countries into supporting him for the past couple of months, not because the US actually need any military support.

Yes, that's the extra scary part of this whole story...

Well... at least war support here has been falling off rapidly, and demonstrations with tens of thousands against the war have been happening. If he does go over there, I'm sure there will be a much larger protest. Outlook not so good.

Tuss

Yes, of course. That's why I wrote "could be important". Most likely Bush will ignore the UN decision anyway, because his aim is to revolt the Iraq government, and not enforcing arm controls there (that's what the UN wants).



Guess why: Most large corporations have at least one sector that directly or inderictly profits from a high demand of military equipmet...

By the way, the "Berlusconi law" is the same kind of policy Bush does: He makes his crimes legal after he committed them...

Hmmm, if that's true, cocaine should be becoming legal in the US any minute now... I'm guessing that would only make the situation even worse.

Well, ive just had a read through this thread and it looks like I'm the first UK residant to reply so I'll give you the British(well,...my) perspective.

The biggest problem to the UK at the moment is that Blair is still very popular without strong political opposition, he's going to be in charge here for at least another 3 years and probably more like 8. Quite rightly too, that is a good thing for my country because our current governments domestic policy is very good and our country is doing very well economically and at home, everything is sweet.

The problem is that there is a large anti-war feeling among the public here but that wont sway the voters because the domestic issues are running quite well and people dont want to rock the boat. For this reason Blair can continue to kiss Bush's arse and not reall worry about what the UK public think. So I'm afraid to say, whether people like it or not, the worlds number 4 are right behind Bush and it's likely to stay that way .

I dont know if we need to go to war or not, I'm just a man trying to make a living in the best way I can, at the end of the day North Sea Oil provides almost enough for our needs and if, despite being the worlds largest producer of oil, the US need more, they should get it on their own devices, not by using Europes economic powers to help them quench their ever-increasing thirst for low cost fuel.

Edited by fretz at 03:40 on October, 13th 2002

I can understand that point of view but I still don't get why Blair is being so supportive of Bush. I mean, what has he to gain if Bush installs a pro-america government in Iraq... But I do think it's a good thing most of Europe can finaly agree on something...

Edited by Pada1 at 03:59 on October, 13th 2002

I dont understand it either Pada1. Right now I feel more like I live in America's 51st State rather than Europe. Its probably more likely that if we ever change our currency away from the £, it will be replace by US$ and not the Euro!

Your not on your own being confused by the UK governments attitude. Theres about 50 million people curious about it in England as well!

But while things are looking good for England, unfortunately, nothing will change.

It is worth adding though that when Clinton was in power I was happy to be closely linked to the US, how things change....

Edited by fretz at 04:23 on October, 13th 2002