The Bush administration is far from impressed by the latest Russian assurances that the nuclear power station they are building for Iran at Bushehr will not be capable of producing weapons-grade uranium. Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev promised visiting Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham last week that Russia would even take the spent fuel from Iran and reprocess it elsewhere. In fact, Washington is even more worried than usual after reports that some of its new NATO friends might be getting mixed up in the dealings over Bushehr. Czech officials were quizzed in the State Department this week about reports that their country's role in furnishing sensitive equipment for Bushehr. The Czechs are baffled, but have promised to investigate.
Maybe those careless checks signed by Princess Haifa al-Faisal, wife of the Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar, could turn out to have been useful. The well-informed Kuwaiti daily al-Watan reports that it led to an initially tense but finally cordial meeting between Prince Bandar and Condoleezza Rice, at which the White House national security adviser defined the terms on which the Americans would draw a veil over the affair. Rice asked for "a clear Saudi statement of support" against Iraq, and the use of the Prince Sultan Air Base in the event of military operations. Al-Watan concluded that the Saudis "agreed to be amenable with some reasonable adaptations of the plan."
Russian President Vladimir Putin, on an official visit to India, is taking unusual precautions against the stomach upset known as Delhi Belly, legendary curse of foreign tourists. Putin's staff, accompanied by a Russian microbiologist in case the precautions fail, are washing all the plates and cutlery that their president uses in Stolichnaya vodka as a disinfectant. A hygiene freak, Putin has also ordered his hotel suite to be thoroughly disinfected, with Russian security agents standing guard over the cleaning staff.
Hungary's dithering is Bulgaria's opportunity. A NATO member since 1999, Hungary is agonizing over how far it can support the proposed American military operation against Iraq. The problem is not so much American troops, who have in recent years become a familiar sight at the Taszar base, 100 miles south of Budapest, but civilian "employees" of the State Department. In fact they would be Iraqi exiles and dissidents, in training to act as interpreters and fill other support roles during a military campaign. Hungary's new left-of-center coalition government is dubious, fearing after initial alarmist reports that up to 5,000 Saddam-hating Iraqis were heading their way that the country could become a terrorist target. Bulgaria has been quick to step into the breach. Foreign Minister Solomon Passy has told Washington that his country was "eager" to help. But then Bulgaria has something to prove, after those embarrassing revelations that its state-owned Terem munitions plant had been illicitly exporting spare parts for Saddam Hussein's BRM and BMP armored personnel carriers.
While German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has reached a record low of 28 percent in the approval ratings, his fellow countrymen overwhelm him with generosity. Thousands of shirts have arrived in his Berlin office from all over the nation last week and hundreds more pour in every day, obliging Schroeder to establish a crisis staff to deal with these unsolicited gifts. It all started when Internet marketing tycoon Christian Stein sent out an electronic chain letter. "The Chancellor is after our last shirt; so let's send him our last shirt," suggested Stein, chastising the Schroeder government's plan for tax hikes. Thus, Aktion Letztes Hemd -- Last Shirt Initiative -- commenced. Germans responded enthusiastically, forcing the Chancellery to ship the shirts to charities on a daily basis, lest its offices be clogged with garments. One of the beneficiaries favored by Schroeder's people is an organization aiding the unemployed -- a thoughtful choice, given the mounting jobless figures.
Infidels are not welcome at Iran's blood transfusion service, because good Muslims stay clear of sex and drugs. "People who believe in religious and cultural values have purer blood than others," Tehran clinic director Dr. Babak Yektaparast tells the newspaper Qods. "The others are tempted by sexual relations and drugs and have less pure blood. In this light, we try to choose blood donors who are believers and respect cultural values."
