Other countries.....
(AP) "President Bush urged OPEC nations on Tuesday to put more oil on the world market and warned that soaring prices could cause an economic slowdown in the United States. "High energy prices can damage consuming economies...."
(AP) "Saudi Arabia will raise oil production only when the market justifies it, the kingdom's oil minister said Tuesday...."
(Reuters) "Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said troops will be ordered to shoot anyone trying to disrupt general elections due on February 18."
(Reuters) "Israel killed 15 Palestinians, nearly all of them militants, in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday...." ("Nearly all of them militants...." Peace is on the way.)
(AP) "Saudi Arabia will raise oil production only when the market justifies it, the kingdom's oil minister said Tuesday...."
(Reuters) "Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said troops will be ordered to shoot anyone trying to disrupt general elections due on February 18."
(Reuters) "Israel killed 15 Palestinians, nearly all of them militants, in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday...." ("Nearly all of them militants...." Peace is on the way.)
posted by mikevotes at
7:45 AM
2 Comments:
Has Bush already move to the heap or irrelevancy with regard to, well, everything? That's not to say that he's incapable of mucking things up even more, but insofar as influencing "allies?"
Whether on Iran, oil, Israel/Palestine, or any number of international issues it seems he has little power to influence world leaders to do anything that they are not already predisposed to do anyway. And startlingly -- if that's not too strong a word -- foreign leaders seem quite comfortable with brushing off his demands/suggestions/pleadings.
As I said in an earlier comment, officially Bush is getting the royal red carpet treatment. But on matters of substance he seems to be treated as a figurehead only. From Britian and France to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, he receives effusive praise, but when he tries to play Leader of the Free World, they're politely dismissive and more content to follow their own council, not his.
By
-epm, at 10:18 AM
Oh, there's plenty of opportunity to still muck things up.
And, as I responded before, foreign leaders are largely waiting for the next presidency. The only thing that makes them move is if the administration offers permanent concessions that will not be obtainable in the next (stronger) administration.
By
mikevotes, at 11:34 AM
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