Charming
The incomparable Mark Steyn has the right line on President Bush's "charm offensive" in Europe:
International relations are like ex-girlfriends: if you're still deluding yourself you can get her back, every encounter will perforce be fraught and turbulent; once you realise that's never gonna happen, you can meet for a quick decaf latte every six – make that 10 – months and do the whole hey-isn't-it-terrific-the-way-we're-able-to-be-such-great-friends routine because you couldn't care less. You can even make a few pleasant noises about her new romance (the so-called European Constitution) secure in the knowledge he's a total loser.
However, even the best analogies break down if pushed too hard. Europe will be far more annoying going forward than any ex-girlfriend one meets once every ten months could be. Europe's 20-year (30-year in the case of France) strategy of cozying up to anti-American Middle East dictators for economic gain and to strengthen its hand against the U.S. lies pretty much in ruins with the demise of two key players -- Saddam and Arafat -- and the apparent conversion of a third -- Qadhafi. The Middle East is looking more like a European sphere of impotence than a sphere of influence, right now. Meanwhile, Europe is reeling from the main consequence of its cozying strategy, the mass Arab immigration into Europe. But the Europeans are ready to move past these setbacks and to cast China in something like the role the Middle East was going to (and to some extent did) play.
