New York Times
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's narrow re-election in Germany, after a bitter campaign focusing on his opposition to a war with Iraq, has sent a thunderbolt across the Atlantic and into the White House. In a clear sign of American displeasure, President Bush offered only an icy acknowledgment of Mr. Schroeder's victory. The chancellor has responded with the right gesture -- immediate removal of a minister quoted as making an odious comparison between Mr. Bush's tactics and those of Hitler. There is more Mr. Schroeder should do. For their part, Mr. Bush and his aides need to recognize the uneasiness of the Germans and many others over the prospect of a war. ...
The center of Mr. Schroeder's campaign was his vow not to allow German troops to participate in an Iraqi war. But Germany has not been asked to send troops. There is still room for Mr. Bush to make his case for the war at the United Nations and other forums, and for the Germans to agree to other kinds of participation, including military assistance and the use of German military bases. Germans have not shirked their responsibility in this sphere, having sent thousands of peacekeeping troops into the Balkans and Afghanistan.
Mr. Bush needs to recognize that if he wants to rally the world against Saddam Hussein, he will have to engage in a more strenuous effort of public diplomacy. A good example occurred 20 years ago, when President Ronald Reagan went to Europe to argue for the placement of medium-range missiles aimed at Russia. In the face of vast protests, Mr. Reagan laid out his vision and won the day. Mr. Bush has yet to meet that test.
Washington Times
Scandals involving comments about President Bush and Hitler, anti-Semitism and jittery economics paved the way for one of the most unusual elections in German history Sunday night. Until late evening, the conservative Christian Democrats remained in the lead. But around 3:30 a.m., both German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats and Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber's CDU/CSU parties were scoring 38.5 percent of the vote. Then it was up to their potential coalition partners -- the Greens and the economic liberals, the Free Democrats (FDP) -- to determine who would lead the government. In the end, the Greens were the only ones who could claim real victory. Their poster boy, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, saved the incumbent government from having to step down through little more than a one-point lead over the FDP. The day after, Germany has started a much-needed housecleaning. ...
Our government should maintain frigid, if minimally proper, diplomatic relations with the Schroeder government in the hope that an American cold shoulder will tip Mr. Schroeder's fragile majority into dysfunction. The German political class may decide that it is not in Germany's interest to be led by a pariah from the Atlantic community of nations. Mr. Schroeder should begin to pay a high price for his anti-American demagoguery.
St. Petersburg Times
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld raised a legitimate question the other day: Does it make sense to command U.S. forces in the Middle East from a military base in south Tampa?
The question should be decided on military terms -- what is the most secure and effective location from which to manage American forces in that region? Having the U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base is important to Tampa Bay, and having it on American soil helps remind the public of our broad national interests in the Middle East. But practical considerations should come first. If there's a case to move CentCom, the Pentagon should make it.
It would be hard to overstate the political resistance an effort to move CentCom would face. In response to Rumsfeld's public musings over CentCom's location, MacDill's most influential supporter in Congress, Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Largo, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said: "I have no doubt in my mind that Central Command will remain located at MacDill." Young's view will affect other minds, too. ...
There are numerous arguments on many fronts in deciding where CentCom should be located. Aside from economic and political factors domestically, there also are diplomatic and security concerns associated with putting American military commands overseas. The increased visibility of U.S. forces in the Middle East since the Persian Gulf War already has caused tensions in the region. CentCom's presence would complicate those issues.
If this idea goes anywhere, the principle consideration should be what's best for achieving CentCom's national security mission. Any impact on MacDill and the surrounding community is a secondary concern.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Japan has made an overture to North Korea that could help the United States improve relations with the secretive, communist country.
Last week's summit between Japan and North Korea certainly underlined the difficulties of improving America's -- or any nation's -- ties with North Korea.
At one point, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi nearly left for home in frustration. When Koizumi got home, he faced shock and angry media questions over North Korea's admission that it had kidnapped at least a dozen Japanese citizens in the '70s and '80s. Six of the kidnapped Japanese died long ago, North Korea said.
Despite concern over the deaths, however, the Japanese public generally has reacted favorably to the prime minister's trip. Koizumi apparently received limited assurances from North Korea about holding back its missile and nuclear materials programs. If progress continues on the security issues, Koizumi has indicated that Japan will provide billions in desperately needed aid to North Korea.
While Koizumi had support from President Bush for the North Korean summit, the Japanese prime minister's optimism about further improvements in relations with North Korea far outstrips any hope felt by most U.S. officials. ...
Koizumi's progress occurred despite facing the unenviable task of dealing with a neighbor who, if it were any more bizarre, might have sent UFOs to abduct Japanese citizens. Maybe his apparent success can provide some modest cause for optimism among U.S. officials as they consider their own overtures to North Korea.
San Diego Union-Tribune
A six-week absence of suicide bombings against Israelis was broken last week by two bombings in which eight Israelis were killed. Israel responded by wiping out Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, stopping only after an appeal from the White House.
Israel should consider "the consequences of its actions," said the White House, in a statement we strongly support. We condemn the suicide bombings equally strongly. But why has Israel responded against the Palestinian Authority, which was not linked to the bombings and has been struggling to stop the bombers? Why play into the hands of Hamas and other terrorists who seek to weaken the authority and stop peace talks from resuming? ...
Sharon's demolition of the Palestinian Authority serves neither Israeli nor Palestinian interests. Nor does it serve the wider interest of peace and stability in the Middle East.
The White House was right to warn Sharon of the consequences of his actions, because they reach far beyond his target of Arafat.
The enemy of terror is hope.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The arrest of Morris Brown College marketing professor Julu Kathapa on charges of student visa fraud serves as a stark reminder that colleges and universities remain a vulnerable loophole in the nation's border security system. Whether Kathapa is guilty or innocent, many foreign "students" either abuse their study visas or were never students in the first place.
Yet, colleges and universities have long resisted the installation of a computerized tracking system that would allow the Immigration and Naturalization Service to keep up with the foreign students who enter the country to study. After the terrorist atrocities of Sept. 11, college administrators have finally been persuaded to cooperate with a tracking system. ...
Today, more than 500,000 foreign students attend our colleges and universities. They pay top dollar, boosting state economies and university coffers, adding international prestige to campuses and taking home a new understanding of these United States. Americans must never curtail this self-promoting exchange of cultures and ideas.
However, colleges and universities should not balk at a responsibility to help keep up with their foreign visitors. No legitimate students should mind, either.
Boston Globe
It may be understandable that Israel's leaders, as they prepare for a possible U.S.-led military action against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, wish to retain two prerogatives they regard as indispensable to Israel's security: the deterrent power to punish militarily any attacker and the right of a sovereign country to conduct its own defense.
Nevertheless, if Saddam repeated his 1991 tactic of firing inaccurate Scud-type missiles at Israel in an effort to provoke Israeli retaliation -- and thereby incite Arab masses to demand that their regimes side with him -- Israeli restraint would not only advance the United States effort but would also best serve Israel's long-term interests. ...
The reality is that Israel could gain much more in the way of security from a regime change in Baghdad than it did from the 1991 war to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait. If Israel refrained from retaliation then, it would have even more reason to do so now.
If this time Israel fell for some desperate provocation launched by Saddam and retaliated militarily, it could hardly improve upon what American forces would be doing. Far from demonstrating Israeli resolve and deterrence, any such retaliation would only jeopardize the chances of improving the strategic situation in Israel's neighborhood.
Chicago Tribune
The Sept. 11 attacks mean that George W. Bush will forever be associated with the war against al Qaida in particular and terrorism in general. But in the aftermath, the president has developed a broader agenda than defeating Osama bin Laden and his legions. He thinks those attacks demand not only a shift in the focus of our foreign and defense policy, but a rethinking of its basic assumptions.
The "Bush Doctrine," as it has been dubbed, was codified last week in an official statement, "The National Security Strategy of the United States." Its most notable innovation, an emphasis on pre-emptive action against our enemies, has been on view for months. ...
The administration says it will feel free to defang perceived threats with or without international support. Sometimes unilateral action may be necessary. But as the sole superpower, we have an obligation to take seriously the views of our allies and the U.N. If we antagonize large elements of the world community, we will lose friends we need for causes ranging from battling terrorism to expanding free trade.
America's unsurpassed military power is a tool that can be used for many worthwhile ends, as it should be. But it's a finite resource that also needs to be reserved for occasions when nothing else will work.
Dallas Morning News
If President Bush thought he could pursue an aggressive policy on Iraq without addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's recent statements should disabuse him of that notion.
Mr. Sharon said Israel would respond to any Iraqi attack on Israel, unlike the restraint shown by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir in the face of Iraqi Scud missile attacks during the Persian Gulf War. Mr. Sharon thrusts the Israeli-Palestinian standoff squarely into the middle of the regional equation, where the Arabs always believed it should be.
To avoid Armageddon, Mr. Bush must work for peace in the Middle East as forcefully as he is working to make the case for war with a noncompliant Iraq. ...
Diplomats are attempting to broker a peace. Last Tuesday's quartet meeting -- of the U.S., Russia, U.N. and European Union -- proffered a deal for a Palestinian state with provisional borders next year and a final settlement by 2005 with progress assessed by third parties. Arab leaders, including representatives from Lebanon and Syria, were brought into discussions. But Israelis and Palestinians could not come to terms on ending the violence.
Mr. Bush's "cowboy" image would benefit greatly from making it clear he is a reluctant warrior and that his ultimate goal in the region is peace. His own standing and the prospects for peace would be increased if he took a personal interest in forging a Middle East peace.
Houston Chronicle
There is some good news about the environment, believe it or not. A new Australian study found that the amount of ozone-destroying gases -- chlorofluorocarbons -- in the atmosphere is slowly declining.
The giant hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica should disappear within 50 years, scientists say, reducing the risk that people will get skin cancer from overexposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays.
The hole is closing because most nations committed themselves in the 1980s to banning or phasing out the production and use of CFCs, which are used in air-conditioning, aerosol sprays and refrigerators.
As the level of CFCs has declined, the ozone hole has stopped expanding. The atmosphere appears to be healing itself from the effects of the man-made pollutant, restoring the ozone layer's filter against the sun's harmful radiation.
The study shows that sensible united action by nations around the world on environmental matters can produce satisfactory results. While not all environmental efforts are practical or effective -- such as the Kyoto protocol that the United States rightly did not sign -- some international environmental agreements do work to help protect life on the planet.
(Compiled by United Press International.)
