When US President George W. Bush comes to town next week, Washington's European allies will be hoping to extinguish the heat of transatlantic rancor over Iraq.
But just as one issue gets switched to the backburner for Bush's participation next Tuesday in EU and NATO summits, another in the form of Iran's nuclear ambitions threatens a fresh flare-up.
The EU trio of Britain, France and Germany has taken the lead in negotiating with Iran to persuade the Islamic republic to sign up to tough UN inspections of its nuclear facilities.
The US has thus far been content to let the powerful EU countries get on with it, but has of late begun to rattle its sabre a little more loudly. There is talk in Washington of military strikes if the negotiations fail.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came to Europe to prepare the ground for Bush last week. Her meetings were marked by what both sides agreed was a shared desire to move on from Iraq.
But Rice also urged the EU three to take a tough line with Iran, warning Tehran of UN sanctions if it refuses to renounce its suspected nuclear weapons program.
Michael Emerson, a Middle East expert at the Center for European Policy Studies, said Iran was the toughest nut on the table for Tuesday "because here you do have a real difference between the Europeans and the Americans."
"On the American side, there is a division of views between those who would like to drop bombs on every nuclear establishment in Iran versus the people in Washington who think that that would be a crazy idea," he said. "At this point, we don't know what President Bush thinks."
For its part, Europe would like to hear from Bush that the US will take a more constructive role in the delicate talks with Iran.
"I strongly encourage the US administration to actively support the Europeans' diplomatic efforts," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Saturday.
"Iran will only abandon its nuclear ambitions for good if not only its economic but also its legitimate security interests are safeguarded," he said, calling on the US to get involved in Gulf security talks.
The US, however, has no diplomatic relations with Iran and not so long ago, Bush was referring to its clerical regime as part of an "axis of evil."
To Europe's relief, that kind of rhetoric has disappeared since Bush took office last month for his second term, to be replaced by talk that now is the time for diplomacy.
There are reassuring noises coming even from US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, no slouch at upsetting the Europeans in the past.
"There's not much daylight between the approaches of the United States and the Europeans" on Iran, Rumsfeld said in Munich last weekend, arguing that both sides wanted to stop Iran getting the bomb.
Where there is disagreement, however, is on how to reach that goal.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image