Bush stumbling

President George W Bush told Europeans yesterday it was "absurd" to regard the United States as the greatest threat to world peace.

Now just think about that for a moment; how often has a US president had to make a statement like that to friendly nations?

The visibly annoyed Bush was responding to a journalist's question about opinion polls, asking why most Europeans believe the United States is a greater menace than Iran or North Korea.

A sobering thought? Most Europeans believe…

Guantanamo Bay and trans-Atlantic trade barriers are hot spots. Even before Mr Bush landed for the one-day meeting in Vienna, his host, the Austrian chancellor, Wolfgang Schuessel, had made clear he would be demanding the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, in the name of the European Union.

But there are many other areas of concern. EU countries are working frantically to head off and confrontation with Iran, for instance.

Asked if the United States would come to the table for provisional talks, while waiting for a final Iranian verdict, Bush replied: "Our position is, we'll come to the table when they verifiably suspend. Period."

Bush was tackled a second time on the collapse in European public support for his administration by a Viennese journalist who reeled off statistics, including the fact that three quarters of Austrians regard the United States as a grave threat.

It was absurd to think America more dangerous than Iran, he repeated. "We are a transparent democracy, we debate things in the open," he said.

Personally I believe the concept of a ‘transparent democracy’ has become an oxymoron. The US government hardly behaves with transparency, and nor do my various governments. I really can’t see that argument taking wing and flying.

I’m just interested to see what sort of media this gets in the US. I’ll be highly surprised if it receives open and transparent coverage.