‘FULL AND FRANK’ — While President Bush insisted that the change of leadership in Britain had not altered U.S.-British relations, Gordon Brown’s first official visit to Washington as prime minister somehow managed to place the partnership in a more distant, formal context. “Full and frank” — Brown’s description of his talks with Bush — recalls the Cold War, when it was diplospeak for “we disagreed,” and one step above “useful exchange of views.” We are a long way from Tony Blair’s warm, intense, and (at least in public) full endorsement of George Bush’s policies. European diplomats in Washington, briefed by [...]
The Commentary Week in Reviewis posted on the blog every Friday. Drawing from more than two dozenEnglish-language news outlets worldwide, the column highlights ahandful of the week’s notable op-eds. What Bush could learn about the Middle East from Napoleon, Peru’s economic inequality, Japan’s historic election, Poland’s identity crisis and more. Demands on Peru’s Poor Writing in the July 30 Miami Herald,Michael Shifter described the “profound social divisions” afflicting Peruwhere President Alan García has just completed the first year of hisfive-year term. “García can at least have thepeace of mind that his second term marks a vast improvement over thefirst,” wrote [...]
What did Libyan leader Gadhafiget in exchange for freeing the five Bulgarian nurses and thePalestinian doctor accused of infecting 460 Libyan children with AIDS?Quite a lot, it seems. Details are still murky, and news reportsconflict with government declarations, but here’s a roundup of Libya’sgains: Two arms deals, worth somewhere around $405 million with European arms giant EADS. As Gadhafi’s son noted, “this is the first armaments deal by a western country with Libya.” An accord with France to build a nuclear reactor for civilian use. A French official confirmed that French company Areva, the world leader in nuclear energy, would [...]
