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Schroeder to build bridges to Washington via Blair
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday in his first foreign visit since winning re-election as he seeks to calm a row with Washington over Iraq. In another move to build bridges, Defence Minister Peter Struck said Germany and the Netherlands had offered to take command of the international peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan when Turkey's mandate expires at the end of the year. Germany would probably be expected to provide more troops for the operation, relieving pressure on U.S. and British forces — the likely leaders of any attack on Iraq. Struck told reporters at a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Warsaw the offer should help ease tensions between Berlin and Washington. "Yeah, sure! We'll do that for ya! Anything else you want?" Despite the move, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who said Schroeder's anti-war rhetoric in the election campaign tainted ties, was still expected to snub his German counterpart by refusing direct talks on the sidelines of the NATO meeting. "Struck? Struck? Don't believe I know him. Where'd you say he was from?" Schroeder, whose strident opposition to a U.S. strike on Iraq helped him win a second term on Sunday, was due in London on Tuesday evening in what could be a first step towards narrowing European differences on the looming threat of war. New chancellors traditionally make their first post-election visit to Paris, but Schroeder has had strained relations with French President Jacques Chirac, who was widely seen as favouring his conservative challenger, Edmund Stoiber. You can tell he's a bright fellow. How many people can cheese off both the Merkins and the Frenchies? Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2002-09-24 |
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