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Europe steps up criticism of US
From two CNN articles:
A senior French government minister has attacked the U.S. approach to fighting terrorism as "simplistic."
Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine told France Inter radio on Wednesday: "We are friends of the United States, we are friends of that people and we will remain so. But we are threatened today by a new simplism which consists in reducing everything to the war on terrorism. That is their approach, but we cannot accept that idea. You have got to tackle the root causes, the situations, poverty, injustice."
Vedrine said the U.S. was showing signs of acting "unilaterally, without consulting others, taking decisions based on its own view of the world and its own interests ... refusing any multilateral negotiation that could limit their decision-making, sovereignty and freedom of action."
Vedrine's criticism is the latest indictation of unease among some of America's European allies over the direction of the post-Afghanistan anti-terror campaign.
Although France was among those European countries that backed the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism following the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, it has joined Germany and Britain in expressing concerns.
Vedrine said the rhetoric coming out of Washington was confirmation that the Republican administration approached foreign policy unilaterally.
Vedrine also criticised U.S. support for Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians.
He said that Europeans opposed it and that the American vision of globalisation was not one France shared.
"Europeans are unanimous in not supporting the Middle East policy of the White House," Vedrine said.
"We think it is a mistake blindly to accept the policy of pure repression conducted by Ariel Sharon ... we are saying this and we are making a number of other proposals."
Vedrine is not the only European politician to criticise Bush's speech.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw described it as domestic electioneering.
"I thought the State of the Union speech was best understood by the fact that there are mid-term congressional elections coming up in November," Straw said.
At the annual security conference in Munich at the weekend, Ludger Volmer, a state secretary at the German foreign ministry, said: "The terror argument cannot be used to settle old scores."
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France has again warned Washington of the dangers of unilateralism in its approach to the war on terrorism.
French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, speaking at a European parliamentarians' conference on money laundering on Friday, spoke two days after his Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine criticised what he called U.S. President George W. Bush's simplistic approach to world politics.
"We hope the United States does not give in to the strong temptation of unilateralism," Jospin said.
France has strongly backed the campaign against terrorism since the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
"But this does not mean that we must not reflect lucidly on the lessons we have learned from September 11," Jospin said.
"We cannot reduce the problems of the world to the single dimension of the struggle against terrorism, despite its pressing importance, nor rely on the predominance of military means," he added.
Jospin also said international cooperation was needed to tackle terrorism.
"Our conception of the world aims to create a more balanced international community ... based on a multilateral approach," he said.
"Cooperation means members of the international community can tackle together the roots of problems, since none of us can hope to resolve them alone."
The criticism from Paris is the latest indictation of unease among some of America's European allies over the direction of the post-Afghanistan anti-terror campaign.
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CNN quickvote poll:
Q: Is U.S. foreign policy too simplistic?
A: Yes: 61%, 24825 votes; No 39%, 16175 votes
A senior French government minister has attacked the U.S. approach to fighting terrorism as "simplistic."
Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine told France Inter radio on Wednesday: "We are friends of the United States, we are friends of that people and we will remain so. But we are threatened today by a new simplism which consists in reducing everything to the war on terrorism. That is their approach, but we cannot accept that idea. You have got to tackle the root causes, the situations, poverty, injustice."
Vedrine said the U.S. was showing signs of acting "unilaterally, without consulting others, taking decisions based on its own view of the world and its own interests ... refusing any multilateral negotiation that could limit their decision-making, sovereignty and freedom of action."
Vedrine's criticism is the latest indictation of unease among some of America's European allies over the direction of the post-Afghanistan anti-terror campaign.
Although France was among those European countries that backed the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism following the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, it has joined Germany and Britain in expressing concerns.
Vedrine said the rhetoric coming out of Washington was confirmation that the Republican administration approached foreign policy unilaterally.
Vedrine also criticised U.S. support for Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians.
He said that Europeans opposed it and that the American vision of globalisation was not one France shared.
"Europeans are unanimous in not supporting the Middle East policy of the White House," Vedrine said.
"We think it is a mistake blindly to accept the policy of pure repression conducted by Ariel Sharon ... we are saying this and we are making a number of other proposals."
Vedrine is not the only European politician to criticise Bush's speech.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw described it as domestic electioneering.
"I thought the State of the Union speech was best understood by the fact that there are mid-term congressional elections coming up in November," Straw said.
At the annual security conference in Munich at the weekend, Ludger Volmer, a state secretary at the German foreign ministry, said: "The terror argument cannot be used to settle old scores."
===================
France has again warned Washington of the dangers of unilateralism in its approach to the war on terrorism.
French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, speaking at a European parliamentarians' conference on money laundering on Friday, spoke two days after his Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine criticised what he called U.S. President George W. Bush's simplistic approach to world politics.
"We hope the United States does not give in to the strong temptation of unilateralism," Jospin said.
France has strongly backed the campaign against terrorism since the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
"But this does not mean that we must not reflect lucidly on the lessons we have learned from September 11," Jospin said.
"We cannot reduce the problems of the world to the single dimension of the struggle against terrorism, despite its pressing importance, nor rely on the predominance of military means," he added.
Jospin also said international cooperation was needed to tackle terrorism.
"Our conception of the world aims to create a more balanced international community ... based on a multilateral approach," he said.
"Cooperation means members of the international community can tackle together the roots of problems, since none of us can hope to resolve them alone."
The criticism from Paris is the latest indictation of unease among some of America's European allies over the direction of the post-Afghanistan anti-terror campaign.
===============
CNN quickvote poll:
Q: Is U.S. foreign policy too simplistic?
A: Yes: 61%, 24825 votes; No 39%, 16175 votes
Whatever shall we do to live down such an indignity? 
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