World Reaction to Election of President Bush

Istvan Simon writes: I read with great interest and fascination  Professor Hilton's assessment of the European reaction. I think Professor Hilton is right on the dot on every one of his observations. It is time the Europeans realize that it is Americans that elect the President not their opinion polls.  I voted for Kerry, so this comment can be taken in that context.   I particularly recommend some soul searching for some  of  our European WAISers.
America needs to listen to our European   allies, and ex-allies, and take their opinions into consideration. But in my opinion,  they must listen  to us even more.  And they have not been doing so.

I would like to add the reaction in China that I heard first hand today.  I am told that the Chinese are absolutely delighted by the reelection of President Bush.  I was wondering why that is so. I knew that Bush was popular in China, as I just came back from three months there. But even so, I was surprised that most commentators' reactions in China has been so positive.  So I was wondering what could explain this phenomenon. I came to the conclusion that maybe part of it is a preference for the known rather than the unknown,  and second that maybe China appreciates  President Bush's policy on North Korea, which gives due deference and a major role to China. China and the United States are natural allies. We should cultivate this and deepen it.

Our old allies in Europe should also take note. The United States should deepen our relationships with the new Europe, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, etc., and Russia. Germany in particular, and NATO in general,
should be reminded that a peaceful  and democratic Iraq is as much in the interest of Germany as that of the United States, and that we absolutely do not appreciate their absence in paying the price that that entails. We need more troops in Iraq, and they should be taken from our troops currently  in Germany and South Korea to be redeployed in Iraq, unless and until sizable numbers of  troops are contributed by these countries to the  effort to pacify Iraq and allow it to have democratic elections.

http://historicaltextarchive.com/hilton/legend/index.html
http://www.historicaltextarchive.com/books.php?op=viewbook&bookid=8

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