Reaganonics. Evil Empire. “We have bombed the Kremlin”.
Oh, hey! Over there! A lookinglass!
“Mr. Gorbacgev, tear down this wall!”
As if that wall would ever come down…
Also, the quote was more like “We have outlawed Russia. Bombing begins in five minutes.”
I think we can all agree that the reason nobody has shot GWB is that security measures are much better nowadays, and especially in his case, as people feel so strongly about him. I remember a fuss about a virtual shut-down of all of London so that he could visit there.
As I said, me and you will never see eye to eye on this. If I need to find examples of Bush’s horrible international diplomacy and general communication skills, then you and I see things differently. And any example I gave you, you would simply argue around it, so no point.
As for what “group” I am in, I’m in the group that likes their political leaders to be well spoken, diplomatic, and able to answer question from the press without fumbling around like two teenagers in the back of daddy’s car.
I will leave you with the simple image of GW at last years summit trying to massage the shoulders of the German chancellor (dang if I can remember her name). How can you watch that, then not be suprised when he does something worthwhile?
Although there’s not much a debate right now, I do see a spark of one. So, I’m moving this to GD. The mods there can close it if the thread fizzles.
That is the preference of all of us, I’d bet.
But to me, the real test comes when policy comes into play. Keep in mind, please, that presidents typically show up to sign the treaties in ceremonies, and the hard work of negotiating them is done by staffers and diplomats.
So to measure presidents by their diplomatic accomplishments, maybe we ought to look at what they were able to achieve, and concentrate a bit less on whether they accidentally used their dessert fork in the salad.
When I asked you for examples, this is the sort of thing I was after.
North Korea’s got the bomb.
Yes - let’s list Bush’s other diplomatic triumphs.
Seven years of inaction on global warming.
Setting fire to the Middle East.
Still no world trade deal.
Failed coup attempt in Venezuela and the continued rise of people friendly but US unfriendly Latin American govts.
Pissing away the post 9/11 world good will.
Sending Bolton to the UN.
The man is clearly a diplomatic giant.
Its simple, really. Once again, Bush looked into Putin’s eyes, saw his soul, and knew they could be friends. Friendship prevailed and now they play nicely together.
I don’t expect much from this guy so when I heard he had an upset stomach but hadn’t puked on any world leaders (one point where he’s better than his father) I thought that was his diplomacy at its zenith.
No way. Is that really true?
. . .
I am no George Bush fan by any means, but I am very pleased with Mr. Bush’s recent promises to address Global Warming and the genocide in Sudan. Bush has an opportunity to do some real good before he leaves office. I hope it continues.
- Honesty
I haven’t done any real research yet, but I don’t recall a lot of leader-to-leader diplomacy that Bush has been involved in. His foreign policy has gotten a lot of people unnecessarily killed, but that’s not really summit-type diplomacy. I think maybe **Dob ** was lumping Bush’s foreign policy disasters with his one-on-one diplomacy.
A lot of people have wrongly portrayed his “massage” of Angela Merkel’s shoulders as being some kind of sexual come-on, remembering Boris Yeltsin’s bra-snapping episode. I think it was more good-ol’-boy playfulness that he would also have visited on a male counterpart, and he was telling Merkel, “Relax, Angie, you’re among friends here.” It may have been a social faux pas, but it wasn’t a diplomatic disaster.
It’s not unusual for heads of state to posture and fulminate before a summit, and then seem to come to terms at the summit, making the summit appear more successful than it actually was.
You are absolutely right. And he refrained from copping another feel from Angela Merkel, didn’t refer to anyone as ‘Evil Doer’ directly to their face and managed to keep the ‘me velly solly’ impressions of the Chinese delegation to the barest minimum.
We just don’t give him enough credit.
But for the entire Iraq fiasco, I think people would still be willing to give Bush the benefit of the doubt. He burned hiw goodwill with us and our goodwill with the world.
Mr. Ludovic, your agonizer, please.