STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------- All smiles as Bush is embraced by Nato Ian Black in Brussels Thursday June 14, 2001 The Guardian George Bush was the guest of honour yesterday at the headquarters of Nato, the institution that embodies the transatlantic partnership, so allies who had reservations about him or his plans were fairly polite about it. His fellow leaders were so welcoming, in fact, that he was able to claim, on the second day of his European tour, that the arguments about his missile defence scheme were "moving our way". Texan-style affability set the tone. "Its an honour to say hello to folks who I've had the honour of meeting before," Mr Bush said as the summit began. "And its a real pleasure to meet other leaders in the free world." The Nato headquarters in Brussels is the friendliest place he will visit during his five-day tour, which includes tough talks about global warming and encounters with demonstrators who dislike everything he strands for. Several hundred protesters whistled and booed outside the heavily guarded compound, and an intrepid Greenpeace paraglider fluttered a green "Stop Star Wars" banner. But inside everything was choreographed down to the last handshake and photo opportunity. Mr Bush reserved especially warm smiles for Tony Blair and Javier Solana, the former Nato chief who runs EU security policy. His successor at Nato, Lord Robertson, was anxious to avoid controversy. "The president did not ask for support [for his missile-defence shield] because there are no specific plans," he said. "What he got today was an open mind from all the allied countries to look at emerging risks." Yet it was not an entirely easy ride for Mr Bush. Jacques Chirac, the French president, pointedly called the 1972 anti-ballistic-missile (ABM) treaty, which outlaws missile defence, "a pillar" of global security. Mr Bush, in turn, called bluntly for a reassessment of "old assumptions," and made it clear that the treaty should be scrapped in favour of "a new security framework for a new century" to deal with threats from "some of the world's least responsible states". The Germany chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, said there were important questions about the technical feasibility of the missile plans, and argued that Russia and China needed to be involved. Tony Blair was more supportive, calling Mr Bush "extremely articulate" and saying there was "a very broad welcome around the table" for how to deal with the "so-called rogue nuclear states that threaten us all". Overall, US officials thought it had been a good day for Mr Bush's image. "Every president is a caricature until his first trip," the White House chief of staff, Andrew Card, said. Mr Bush's confidence bordered on the abrasive when he insisted that he was no unilateralist. "There is some nervousness here in Europe," he said, "but that's beginning to be allayed when they see the logic behind our rationale." The lesson of the summit was that no one wanted a public bust up with Mr Bush, when domestic politics in Washington will slow up his missile defence plans and convincing Russia matters more than anything else. Saturday's meeting in Slovenia with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will be extremely important; the Kremlin insisted last night that its support for the ABM treaty remained "categorical and unchanged". "Bush came here because it's de rigueur," a Nato insider said. "The purpose of the meeting is to send a political signal and that has been fulfilled, in a sense, once he walks through the door." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Spot the hottest trends in music, movies, and more. http://buzz.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
