At 02:22 19/02/01 +1100, you wrote:
>G'day all,
>
>I reckon the UK has really poisoned what was left of their relationship with
>the continent (as Tony Hancock once said, 'the wogs start at Calais'), and I
>reckon Unca Sam's failure to exercise the simple good manners of telling its
>mates that it was about to crank up the intensity in the Middle East continues
>to evince what looks like a level of plumb-stoopid arrogance that's only going
>to feed anti-Washington sentiment throughout the world.
From the Guardian (UK) today
>>>>
Israel appears to be the only state that has backed the strikes. Russia and
China have led the protests. They have been joined by France - a member of
the Gulf war coalition that ended Iraq's 1990-91 occupation of Kuwait and
has now fallen apart. Algeria, India, Iran, Jordan, Egypt, Malaysia, Syria,
Pakistan, Cuba and even Turkey, a staunch regional ally of the US and
Britain in the past, have strongly criticised the strikes.
<<
And Rudolf Scharping, Germany's defence minister is visiting Beijing today.
On a different but probably related question, even Robin Cook, UK Foreign
Minister stated of the US plan for an Anti-Missile Defence Shield, said
today that this should be placed in the "handle with care drawer".
Although Britain will always try to position itself between the USA and
Europe, a further bit of news underlined the realities of this attempt to
punch above our weight: plans for an inspection of the Royal Navy by the
Queen for her jubilee next year, have been cancelled: Britain now has only
6 front line naval vessels!
Chris Burford
London
