British Prime Minister Tony Blair tried to bridge the trans-Atlantic rift over Iraq, urging a "fractured, divided and uncertain" world to unite in the wake of US President George W. Bush's election victory.
Blair, Bush's strongest international ally in the invasion of Iraq, congratulated the president on his re-election -- and tried to nudge him toward re-engaging with the stalled Middle East peace process.
PHOTO: AP
Speaking on Wednesday at his 10 Downing Street office after talking to Bush by phone, Blair said working toward Israeli-Palestinian peace was "the single most pressing political challenge in our world today."
"Therefore we must be relentless in our war against terrorism and in resolving the conditions and causes on which the terrorists prey," Blair said. "We should work with President Bush on this agenda. It is one which all nations of goodwill would surely agree."
Those remarks appeared aimed at Britain's European neighbors, many of whom opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq and were wary of a second Bush presidency.
Bush's perceived unilateralism, his refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, his rejection of an international criminal court and the incarceration of detainees at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, also have also to his unpopularity among Europeans, including many Britons.
Blair said Bush's re-election "comes at a critical time. A world that is fractured, divided and uncertain must be brought together to fight this global terrorism in all its forms, and to recognize it will not be defeated by military might alone."
The unswerving loyalty of the centrist Blair to the right-wing Republican Bush has angered many Britons, especially among left-wing sections of the governing Labour Party. Many Britons believe Blair slavishly follows US foreign policy without exerting real influence, and he is frequently mocked as Washington's poodle.
Blair tried to dispel that image on Wednesday, painting the trans-Atlantic relationship as a two-way street. While pledging support for the US-led war on terror, Blair also stressed the importance of bringing democracy to Iraq, as in Afghanistan, and to fighting poverty and injustice in Africa and elsewhere in the world. And Blair called for renewed commitment to Israeli-Palestinian peace.
It is widely assumed in Britain that Blair backed Bush over Iraq in return for a pledge that Washington would push harder for peace in the Middle East.
The "road map" peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians put forward by Bush last year has largely stalled.
Blair said he "have long argued that the need to revitalize the Middle East peace process is the single most pressing political challenge in our world today."
Blair's remarks were echoed by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who appealed to the US to push for the "road map" plan.
After meeting with Mubarak in Bonn, Schroeder said peace efforts would go more smoothly with cooperation from Europe, Russia "and above all, the United States of America, so that this process can be implemented better."
Blair called on Europe and the US to "build anew their alliance" in the wake of Bush's victory.
"All of us in positions of leadership, not just President Bush, have a responsibility to rise to this challenge. It is urgent that we do so," Blair said.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
RSS