An accurate picture
Last weeks Diary studied the efforts of the Gang of Four (namely, France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg) to forge a new European Defence Policy (without Europe), designed (arguably) to rival the US with a new (anti-war) military.
Confused? Good, then lets move on.
An analysis piece by John Vinocur in the International Herald Tribune on 5 May ran under the title Schröder is edging closer to Blair views. In other words, the German Chancellor is now distancing himself from French President Jacques Chirac, the man with whom he was holding secret defence meetings only last week (as a direct snub to Blair), while arguing that there was very little Europe in Nato, and describing how he wants to see a return to the simpler days of the cold war (to paraphrase). Blair, meanwhile, has distanced himself from both his European partners/allies/comrades, but singled out Chirac as the dangerous and destabilising extremist cajoling some of Europes lambs into his Baathist pen.
Ah, politics.
Anyway, at issue is nothing less than different views of the world. Blair, suddenly the realist, sees a unipolar world in which international relations are governed by a nations ability to be with or against the United States (and get its premier into one of the White House suites). Chirac, suddenly the dreamer, envisions a multipolar world, where international relations are governed by balance between three superpowers: the US, China, and France ... sorry, Europe.
...A lot simpler...
It all gets a lot simpler if you think of Bush as Reagan and Chirac as Stalin.
However, as Vinocur points out, the stakes have just got higher, and the situation yet more complex. Schröder now calls Blairs view of a unipolar world accurate. (On a domestic level, of course, Schröder has just become more Blairite, but on an international level ... well, remember the war in Iraq?) In what might be seen as a split with his French counterpart, the German Chancellor says that building a continent that stands as a buffer to US might, is not our understanding of Europe. Vinocur says that an equal partnership was more his idea.
Now, the Diary doesnt like to quibble over detail, but what can be meant by an equal partnership? Does this mean that America and Europe will go to war (or not) shoulder-to-shoulder (to use a Blair phrase), with, say, three Stealth bombers each and a joint military command consisting 50% Americans, 50% Europeans? Or does it mean that Chirac is trying to create an equal rivalry, in which, one day, Europe and America will be firing nukes at each other tit-for-tat (Ill take tit, you take tat)?
Whatever, its enough to make you long for the days of Margaret Iron Lady Thatcher thwacking Uncle Jacques Delors with her handbag while Helmut kickback Kohl and Francois Elf Mitterrand hold hands in public and America laughs at them all.
Of course, saying Blairs view of a unipolar world is accurate doesnt mean you think it is right (as in, a good thing). Still, Schröders words came at the same press conference in which Chirac outlined his vision of an inevitable multipolar apportionment of global power.
The IHT speaks of the symbolic invitation extended to Blair by Schröder to speak at a meeting of his ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD) later this month. Is the Third Way still alive, the Diary wonders?
Vinocur sees Schröders comments as signalling a movement back in the direction of the old foreign policy.
Apparently, the old foreign policy does not mean separating Berlin with a big brick wall, but rather a return to the pre-election days, before Schröder realised how much political capital there was in verbally trashing America and unilaterally opposing unilateralism. The return, says the IHT, should not be a tortured one.
In other words, Germanys opposition to the US was only a pose. France is the real enemy of America, as Chirac has a radically different geopolitical conviction.
Proof? Two weeks ago, as Vinocur reminds us, Schröder said, I very much regret there were excessive statements about the foreign policy of the United States made during the election campaign.
80% of Germans want an improvement in relations with America.
A British official told the IHT that as things evolve, French anti-Americanism will be seen as bizarre.
So, to Mars, my friend!
However, those of you excited at the prospect of a new cold war shouldnt hold your breath.
Not only did France and America agree this week to work together on new anti-terrorism techniques, but the US and Russia announced plans to develop a joint unmanned mission to Mars.
No more Yuri Gagarin versus Neil Armstrong, Im afraid.
The announcement came in the wake of a dramatic re-entry by American and Russian crew members of the International Space Station which saw their craft land 400 kilometres away from the intended landing site.
It also emerged this week, in one of those semi-ridiculous and tragic twists of fate, that hundreds of worms survived the break-up in February of the space shuttle Columbia that killed all seven crew members. The Caenorhabditis elegans were found alive in some of the wreckage that fell over Texas. The worms are in fact only the size of a pin-head and have a life cycle of a mere seven to ten days. In 1998, the C elegans became the first multi-celled animal to have its genome sequenced. This led to the decoding of the human genome.
(From various sources, including BBC Online)
Islam versus Islam
Meanwhile, in Uzbekistan...
Uzbek president, Islam Karimov, decided this week to rebuff the international community and embarrass his guests who had come to Tashkent expecting to hear Karimov wax lyrical about how much he disapproves of torture.
Where even widespread torture cannot dent the President's popularity
With thanks to Infinite Jest
Karimov was speaking at the annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), goldmine to Uzbekistan. The EBRD trumpeted the idea that the Uzbek strongman would take the platform to promise an end to torture in his country and a commitment to improving human rights.
Karimov hadnt read the script.
Instead, his opening speech delivered before [1,600] government officials and business people from 60 countries made no mention of the word torture, and focused on [exposing] the differences between the west and central Asia over the importance of human rights. (Financial Times)
Torture, says Karimov in a familiar argument, is central to bringing militant Islam under control.
Kenneth Roth, director of Human Rights Watch, was unimpressed. He described Karimovs address as extremely disappointing and a remarkable example of wavering Soviet-era speech with no reference to reality.
Perhaps it was penned by Chiracs speech writer?
Human Rights Watch estimates that at least 7,000 people have been jailed in Uzbekistan on account of their religious or political beliefs. Torture, says the UN, is systematic.
According to the BBC, the thirty or so protestors who demonstrated outside the hotel hosting the meeting were photographed by police.
Sars and secrecy in Guangdong
While the world ponders the best way to thank China for Sars, the Chinese Communist Party pats itself on the back for a job well done.
The Diary is very clear what it thinks should be done to the peoples champion who enforced the suppression of the news of the Sars outbreak. The Chinese authorities are equally clear: promote the hero.
Thats right, Zhang Dongming, the man who led the cover-up of Sars in the southern province of Guangdong, has been appointed editor-in-chief of Southern Weekend newspaper and deputy editor of the Nanfang Daily Group of publishers.
The Southern Weekend is (or was) known for its liberal reporting and editorial line. The arrival of Dongming, however, looks set to make it about as balanced, unbiased and liberal as Fox News.
Mr Zhang was head of the news bureau in the propaganda department in Guangdong. His lasting legacy was ordering the state-controlled media in the province to first not mention Sars, then to publish articles claiming it was all under control, that there was nothing to worry about, and the people could go back to starving in peace.
The Financial Times reports a Zhang Dongming directive issued on 10 February. It read: All media must strictly keep the [Sars] cases confidential such secrets must not be spread.
The virus, of course, did exactly that.
Clearly not content with aiding and abetting one life-threatening disease, Zhang has now turned his hand to another: suppressing free press. His appointment, says the FT, in effect completes a government plan to bring to heel the groups bold publications.
For these achievements, the Diary has no hesitation in naming him villain of the week.
Quotes of the week
At least in my life this is the last time I will be making an attempt to resolve the Indo-Pakistan dispute.
Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee offering to renew dialogue with Pakistan, and signalling a welcome thaw in relations between the two nuclear-armed states.
Obviously the price is going to go up its sex, and everyone knows sex is a smart investment.
Heidi Fleiss, promoting the market flotation of The Daily Planet, a Melbourne brothel.
Im not hiding the fact that there was disappointment and even hurt.
US trade representative, Robert Zoellick on the White Houses response to Germanys opposition to the Iraq war.
In a way, that meeting was a parody. Does anyone really believe that Belgium and Luxembourg are going to be the nucleus of a new security force in Europe?
Robert Zoellick again on the Gang of Four defence summit in Brussels.
Ludicrous.
Newt Gingrichs description of Colin Powells plans to visit Syria.
Lots of puff in their cheeks, but no sense in their heads.
Gerhard Schröders description of a crowd that heckled him during a Labour Day rally in Frankfurt.
Figure of the week
$1 billion
The amount of money Saddam Hussein withdrew from the Iraqi Central Bank just hours before the first bombs fell on Baghdad.
Contact the Diary Editor: dominic.hilton@openDemocracy.net
