WASHINGTON, 12 June — US President George W. Bush left last evening for Europe to push for his US missile defense system and a less restrictive global warming pact. The five-day trip will take Bush to Spain today, Belgium tomorrow, Sweden on Thursday, Poland on Friday and Slovenia on Saturday. Analysts predict the tour will be heavy on pomp and charm, and light on policy and substance.
Some analysts are puzzled as to why Bush chose to make his first stop in Spain and not the United Kingdom, an important US ally and partner. Aside from King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia being close friends of President Bush’s father, the trip is expected to indicate the administration’s push for Spain’s admission to the Group of Eight, the world’s leading industrial countries plus Russia.
Bush’s trip will include historic moments — the emergence of a new US president on the world stage, his first meeting with a Russian president, and the elaborate state dinners featuring the leader of the most powerful county in the world as the guest of honor. Bush is also expected to make his case for major components of his foreign policy agenda that has upset his allies. Chief items on his agenda include constructing a missile defense system to protect the United States from nuclear warhead fired from “rogue” countries, and his call for a new global warming treaty that will not hurt US interests.
The Europeans are worried that Bush’s readiness to replace the 1972 Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty to build a new missile defense system will set off a costly new international arms race. Bush will also get a chance to defend his national energy policy, which has been criticized by Swedish Environment Minister Kjell Larsson. He called the president’s plan “unbelievable.”
During his Sweden trip, global warning is expected to be the focal talking point. Bush’s predecessor, President Bill Clinton, favored the 1997 Kyoto global climate warming treaty, which required industrial nations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, the byproduct of burning oil, gas and coal that some scientists say is causing the Earth’s atmosphere to warm.
But this March, Bush announced the United States was abandoning the pact, much to the disappointment, some say anger, of other European nations. Bush’s reception with his European and Russian counterparts will be closely watched, as many leaders complain the new American president has not consulted with them on global affairs. Some have gone so far to accuse the United States of “arrogant unilateralism.”
“One cannot build a safe world only oneself and moreover at the expense of others,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month. Bush’s aides are quick to deny the term “unilateralism.”
“I don’t think that’s unilateralism’ I think that’s leadership,” Stephen Hadley, the deputy national security adviser, told journalists.
