World of Opinion On the U.S. presidential election:
It has been said with justice that this U.S. presidential election is a world election in which the world has no vote. Rarely if ever has a presidential election in the U.S. attracted so much international attention, based on the assumed worldwide consequences of a Bush or Kerry victory. … The balance of international opinion decisively favors a Kerry victory – and especially so in Europe. In evaluating the international effects of the election, these facts about a deeply polarized United States – and a polarized world – must be taken fully into account. But so must the possibility that either man would in fact pursue a convergent and surprisingly similar agenda. If Mr. Bush wins he would feel more free in a second term to repair international relations hurt by the Iraq war and less constrained by his conservative base. If Mr. Kerry is victorious he would apply his more multilateral approach to the same objectives, especially over Iraq. Neither man would be in a hurry to repeat that exercise in unilateral preemptive intervention. They would both have to grapple with declining U.S. influence abroad and the weakening performance of the American economy arising from trade and budgetary deficits.
On U.S. presidential elections:
(The presidential) elections will be among the closest and most controversial elections in the United States’ recent history. In a way, they will be a plebiscite on President George. W. Bush, who was chosen to lead his country not by the ballots but by the Supreme Court magistrates.
Analysts believe this fact would have forced him move to the political center. But … on September 11, 2001, criminals of the al-Qaida network unleashed the most violent terrorist attack on the US. Bush declared war on terrorism. …
He toppled Saddam Hussein, but his troops got caught in a scenario he cannot get out of. Worse, one by one, all his reasons for the military operation collapsed. Saddam Hussein did not have WMD and did not represent an imminent threat for the US or for Iraq’s neighbors. There were no links between Baghdad and al-Qaida. Even the concept that Bush had saved the world from a particularly cruel tyrant was stained by the images of U.S. soldiers mistreating Iraqi prisoners. Surprisingly, Bush resisted quite well all these foreign setbacks and even without outstanding domestic achievements, he has been able to split the electorate.
His opponent Sen. John Kerry … tries to appear a moderate and also as a reliable guardian of security for Americans. If elected, his actions will be quite compromised by the environment established by Bush. But his criticism of unilateralism makes him a less traumatic and more promising choice for the evolution of international relations.
On religion and the U.S. presidential election:
There are certainly conservative Christians in both the Democratic and Republican party, but the Christian right has “kidnapped” the Republicans.
This means that its influence on politics has increased or, in other words, a mutual dependence has strengthened the political importance of religion. And it is among the religious conservatives that Bush hopes to be able to mobilize new voters by making the most of religion in the election.
The problem for the Democrats and John Kerry is that this also puts traditionally Democratic voters with a strong religious view under a troublesome cross pressure.
On kidnapped CARE international director:
The Iraqi husband of Margaret Hassan, the CARE International director who was kidnapped in Iraq last week, has appealed to her abductors to release her because “she is an Iraqi” who has nothing to do with politics. He also reminded them that Mrs. Hassan has devoted the past 30 years to helping the people of Iraq. Tahseen Ali Hassan’s pleas are heartfelt and true. It would be misguided, however, to think that the insurgents in Iraq have any regard for such niceties. Many are not themselves Iraqi, but fanatics from other Middle Eastern countries. To be Iraqi offers no protection, since they have killed hundreds of Iraqi civilians in bomb attacks. … There is but one chink of hope: kidnappers in Iraq have not yet murdered a female hostage. It may be that – for all that Mrs. Hassan has done to help Iraq – it is her gender alone that can save her.
On U.S.-China relations:
Viewed from afar, they don’t get on badly – here the old superpower, there the rising regional power.
Indeed, the United States and China get on better today than they have for decades, and the world can be thankful for that. (U.S. Secretary of State) Colin Powell is the first high-ranking U.S. government official to visit China since the withdrawal from politics of the old strongman, Jiang Zemin – and it seems that the new leadership is sticking to the foreign policy legacy of Jiang, who put China on a U.S.-friendly course in the face of some domestic resistance.
He recognized that – at least at first – China can become great only with, not against America. … The beloved sport of “China-bashing” is playing only a peripheral role in the U.S. election campaign. It is centering more on Iraq and terrorism. Still, Powell’s visit also shows once again the whereabouts of the fractures are that are just waiting to reopen – there is the issue of human rights, but above all the issue of Taiwan. …