Excuse my French
What do you do with an unwanted guest? Ask NATO.
A Reuters report that appeared in the International Herald Tribune this week told how NATO dealt with the unwelcome arrival of Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma at the Prague summit.
Ukraine has been accused of smuggling arms (a Kolchuga early-warning radar system) to Iraq. The Diary, in its yellow-bellied naivety, would have thought this a good time for the Ukrainian leader to avoid cavorting with Bush, Blair and company.
But Kuchma denies the smuggling charges and appears to have some fire in his belly. Despite being told to stay away, the ugly sister showed up to the ball, even having the guts to mosey his way into a gala evening at which Bush was present.
The summit organisers were eager to avoid a high-noon showdown, and resorted to the only appeasing weapon in their holster: the French language. At Fridays Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, the names of the 46 nations were suddenly arranged in French. The Ukraine was no longer seated next to the United Kingdom and the United States.
Prime Minister Blair of Royaume-Uni was placed seven seats away from Kuchma. And President Bush of Etats-Unis was more than 30 seats away too far even for a gunslinger of his calibre.
Its a very neat trick, said one NATO official. This is the first time Ive seen a meeting like this arranged alphabetically in French.
President Chirac must be ecstatic.
Knock, knock knocking
Meanwhile, Turkey has been doing its best to shake off Valery Giscard dEstaings Christian fundamentalism by upping its efforts towards securing European Union (EU) membership. And it has been using some original tactics.
This week, students in Turkey have embarked on a mass postcard-writing campaign. Students from 45 universities have been scribbling cards to leaders of EU member states, urging them to set a date for Turkish accession negotiations to kick-off. An estimated one million postcards are expected to be hitting the EU postal systems about now.
The rest of the EU can only balk at such enthusiasm. Compare and contrast with the attitudes of those within the club!
Since the landslide victory of the Islamist-rooted AKP in the recent elections, the eyes of the world have been watching Turkeys every move. All initial signs point to a surge in efforts towards the hallowed ground of EU membership. The postcards show four different images of Turkey tattooed with the slogan: For a more complete Europe linking the Turkish and EU flags.
But will it be enough to persuade the EU leaders? Decembers Copenhagen summit will provide many of the answers. Turkeys new leaders are hurrying through some reformist legislation in time for the gathering, while Recep Tayyip Erdogan is promising to clamp down on police use of torture to coincide with the abolition of the death penalty and improved rights for the Kurdish minority.
Abdullah Gul may have been appointed Prime Minister in Turkey (the leader of the AKP is banned from the post) but there is no doubt that Erdogan is the international face of the new government. He immediately embarked on a tour of six European capitals, the first of which, highly symbolically, was Athens. Greek PM Costas Simitis, along with Silvio Berlusconi, has become a key champion of Turkeys EU bid.
The question of Cyprus arose, and it looks as if hopes to produce a credible peace agreement before the Copenhagen summit in which the (Greek) Republic of Cyprus will gain approval for entry are unlikely to be realised. With or without the postcards, Turkeys EU bid may still rely on peace in Cyprus.
Neighbourly dispute
Relations between India and Bangladesh took a sharp nosedive this week.
Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha sparked anger when, repeating the claims of much foreign media as well as the Bangladeshi opposition itself, he told the Indian parliament that al-Qaida elements (elements?) have found welcome shelter in Bangladesh.
He also repeated the accusations made a couple of weeks ago by Indian Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, that since the last years general election, Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency has been using its high commission in Dhaka as a nerve centre for anti-Indian operations. Sinha claimed that rebels fighting in Indias north-east were operating training camps in Bangladesh, and that a number of Islamic seminaries, or madrasa, had appeared along the Bangladeshi border with India.
Bangladesh said it was seriously disappointed by the accusations. Foreign Secretary Shamser Mobin Chowdhury said that Sinhas comments went against the spirit of good neighbourliness. We have repeatedly stated that Bangladesh does not support any kind of terrorism, he said.
Keep an eye on this hotspot.
Chretiens and morons
And finally, how could the Diary resist the story of Francoise Ducros, the much-misunderstood aide of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien?
Well, it couldnt. Ms Ducros, a top official in the Canadian administration, was quoted in The National Post as calling President George W. Bush a moron.
The remark appeared during the NATO summit, at which Chretien and Bush were present. Their relationship was already under considerable strain, burdened by Chretiens closeness to Bill Clinton, Canadas warning to people in Middle-Eastern countries against travelling to the United States, US anger over Canadas (lack of) weight-pulling in the war on terrorism, and a trade dispute over lumber and wheat exports. But now Chretien had his work cut out not to end up as marginalised as Leonid Kuchma.
This was his response: He is a friend of mine. He is not a moron at all.
Well that ought to do it!
In contrast, Chretien blubbed about Ducros resignation: Im very sorry. She was very good, a very competent person and served me and served the government extremely well and I wish her good luck.
The Diary notices that Ducros didnt take back her remark. Hows this for an apology: If I made comments in the context of what I understood to be a private conversation, I regret that they have attracted so much media attention?
No surprise then to hear Jason Kenney of the opposition Canadian Alliance party in concerned mode: The delay [in Ms Ducros] resignation has fixed in the minds of people in Washington that this is an attitude widespread in the Chretien administration.
Surely not
Quotes of the week
Contrary to my image as a Texan with two guns on my side, Im more comfortable with a posse.
President George W. Bush, explaining his multilateralist instincts to President Vaclav Havel.
Hes a great salesman.
Yves Brodeur, NATO spokesman, on George W. Bush.
As we started speaking, a rainbow appeared. God is smiling on us today.
George W. Bush praising divine intervention during his speech in Revolution Square, Bucharest.
You know, Europeans do not much like arrogancy.
Prime Minister Miklus Dzurinda of Slovakia on George W. Bush.
You go in there thinking, Oh my God, and you come out thinking, Hmmm, not bad
maybe its a triumph of low expectations, but
A senior European diplomat on George W. Bush, quoted in the New York Times.
I was deeply hurt by the election results and recognise a great deal of distrust toward me. Ive had my fill of politics. The cards need to be reshuffled.
Jorg Haider, resigning (again) from the political fray after his far-right Freedom Party polled 10.2% in Austrias national elections.
Ecuador can begin to convert itself into a more just country, a more honest country, a country with a better living standard and a country that is authentically democratic.
Lucio Edwin Gutierrez, a former army colonel who briefly seized power in a coup three years ago, celebrating his election this week as Ecuadors new president.
Figure of the week
1,600%
The increase in hate crimes last year in the United States against people of Islamic faith, according to figures produced by the FBI.
