jonnyofthedead
03-10-2004, 04:23 AM
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1166063,00.html
Shortly before Germany's chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, flew to Washington for talks with George Bush last month, a journalist asked if he was going to say goodbye to the president ahead of the US elections in November. Mr Schröder's adviser grinned broadly before composing his face into a frown. "I won't speculate on that," he said.
Although Mr Schröder deliberately avoided the Democratic candidate, John Kerry, during his two-day trip to the US, there is little doubt that a Kerry victory would provoke rejoicing inside Germany's government, as it would in many other parts of Europe, as well as Asia, Africa and Latin America.
This week Mr Kerry claimed that foreign leaders had told him they could not publicly offer him their support but added: "You've got to beat this guy, we need a new policy."
t is difficult to assess the level of opposition to Mr Bush. When he put together a "coalition" for the war against Iraq last year he gathered just 43 countries - and it was an odd collection that included countries such as Azerbaijan, Eritrea and Uzbekistan, not normally in the forefront of international diplomacy.
He [Victor Bulmer-Thomas, director of Royal Institute for International Affairs, in London] said there was a difference between how a second Bush presidency was perceived by the "masses" - who wanted shot of Mr Bush in the belief there would be a return to a golden age - and the elite - who were not convinced there ever had been a golden age and leaned towards "better the devil you know".
For Kerry
Germany
France
Entire Arab world
Most of Latin America
Neutral/unknown
Britain
Russia
Israel
Iraq
For Bush
Spain
Italy
Pakistan
Azerbaijan
Eritrea
Uzbekistan
Shortly before Germany's chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, flew to Washington for talks with George Bush last month, a journalist asked if he was going to say goodbye to the president ahead of the US elections in November. Mr Schröder's adviser grinned broadly before composing his face into a frown. "I won't speculate on that," he said.
Although Mr Schröder deliberately avoided the Democratic candidate, John Kerry, during his two-day trip to the US, there is little doubt that a Kerry victory would provoke rejoicing inside Germany's government, as it would in many other parts of Europe, as well as Asia, Africa and Latin America.
This week Mr Kerry claimed that foreign leaders had told him they could not publicly offer him their support but added: "You've got to beat this guy, we need a new policy."
t is difficult to assess the level of opposition to Mr Bush. When he put together a "coalition" for the war against Iraq last year he gathered just 43 countries - and it was an odd collection that included countries such as Azerbaijan, Eritrea and Uzbekistan, not normally in the forefront of international diplomacy.
He [Victor Bulmer-Thomas, director of Royal Institute for International Affairs, in London] said there was a difference between how a second Bush presidency was perceived by the "masses" - who wanted shot of Mr Bush in the belief there would be a return to a golden age - and the elite - who were not convinced there ever had been a golden age and leaned towards "better the devil you know".
For Kerry
Germany
France
Entire Arab world
Most of Latin America
Neutral/unknown
Britain
Russia
Israel
Iraq
For Bush
Spain
Italy
Pakistan
Azerbaijan
Eritrea
Uzbekistan