HEADLINE: No New Wars

BYLINE: By Elfriede Jelinek. Elfriede Jelinek won the 2004 Nobel Prize in Literature. This article was translated by Martin Chalmers from the German. DATELINE: Vienna BODY: PRESIDENT BUSH needs Europe. He knows it himself by now. He started a war in defiance of international law and didn't pay any attention to the Europeans, and with that he split the continent into a ''new'' (good) Europe and an ''old'' (bad) one. Now he ought to convince Europeans that he is not planning another war (for example against Syria or Iran), while at the same time professing to think highly of the opinion of European nations and to value them. The freedom that Mr. Bush proclaimed in his inauguration speech cannot be achieved and maintained without the help of the Europeans. First and foremost he has to convince Europe that he is not planning a new war, which shouldn't be difficult. After all, his troops can only with the greatest difficulty halfway pacify Iraq.

[此贴子已经被作者于2005-3-7 2:44:02编辑过]

HEADLINE: Give a Little

BYLINE: By Bono. Bono, a singer for the band U2, is the founder of DATA, which campaigns against AIDS and poverty in Africa. BODY: EUROPE is securing its ports, steeling itself for an American charm offensive. Over the coming days, President Bush and his hosts will shake hands, slap backs, make toasts. But if the United States and Europe really want to repair their relationship, they should look to another continent: Africa. Both America and Europe have a stake in preventing African states from crumbling. Both have an interest in ending the poverty that breeds violence. And both feel a moral obligation to stop the hemorrhaging of life. Aren't those shared interests obvious? Not lately. We lament -- but secretly indulge -- our differences. Points of tension are points of pride. Snottiness is the new patriotism. So what can Mr. Bush do? Well, he can clear up some confusion about America's basic beliefs. Americans are overtly devout. And yet Europeans, who inhabit a more secular world, give more per capita than Americans to what the Bible calls ''the least of these'' -- the world's poor. The United States is in 22nd place, last in the class of donor nations. (Add private philanthropy and it's up to 15th.) Europeans see the discrepancy, and they smell hypocrisy. President Bush should try to help Europeans understand American generosity. He should remind people that the United States has gotten more AIDS drugs to more Africans than anyone else. But he should also underscore that Americans want to ensure that the money is spent responsibly. To Europeans, this ''tough love'' approach seems cruel. But there is compassion at its core. Mr. Bush can demonstrate this by putting more financial muscle behind his push for ''accountability.'' If he does, Europeans will follow suit. They will see talking tough on poverty as a perfect rhyme for talking tough on terrorism. If Europe and America work together, a breakthrough for Africa is within reach. Then, other obstacles will fall away -- as will the misconceptions that blind us to one another.

HEADLINE: Be True

BYLINE: By Stefan Hrib. Stefan Hrib is the editor in chief of the Slovak weekly Tyzden. DATELINE: Bratislava, Slovakia BODY: I grew up under communism in the former Czechoslovakia. We were taught that Ronald Reagan was a servant of the military-industrial complex, a man who wanted war and scorned ordinary people. Paradoxically, most Europeans shared this view, not just those of us who lived behind the Iron Curtain. Had leaders in Moscow, Prague, Paris and Madrid been asked at the time what Mr. Reagan could do to reinvigorate relations between the United States and Europe, they probably would all have had the same answer: he should abandon his dream of American hegemony and start to consider Europe, including the Soviet Union, as an equal partner. But Mr. Reagan didn't seek their advice, and communism eventually collapsed. Mr. Reagan reinvigorated relations between the United States and Europe by staying true to his convictions. Now I live in democratic Slovakia, which is a member of NATO and the European Union. Since the Velvet Revolution in 1989, almost everything in our lives has changed. Our part of Europe is no longer under occupation; my friends can travel freely; our children can study at Harvard, Oxford and the Sorbonne; the secret police are not almighty; and a market economy has replaced socialism. But one thing didn't change: the majority of people in Europe still consider the American president a servant of the military-industrial complex who wants war and scorns ordinary people. So to the question of what George Bush can do to reinvigorate relations between the United States and Europe, I offer the same answer that worked for Ronald Reagan 20 years ag stay true to your convictions and act accordingly. The salons of postmodern Europe will eventually appreciate your wisdom.

HEADLINE: Rogue Dollar

BYLINE: By Robert Skidelsky. Robert Skidelsky, a professor of political economy at the University of Warwick, is the author, most recently, of ''John Maynard Keynes: Fighting for Freedom, 1937-1946.'' DATELINE: London BODY: PRESIDENT BUSH would cheer up the Europeans enormously if he indicated that he was willing to discuss the future of the dollar. The United States is the only major country proclaiming itself indifferent to its currency's value. In countries running persistent current account deficits, governments normally -- indeed must -- reduce domestic consumption. But so far, the United States has relied on other countries to adjust their economies to profligate American spending -- either by revaluing their currencies at the expense of their export trade as the Europeans have done, or by accumulating depreciating dollar i.o.u.'s without limit as the Chinese are doing. But this cannot and should not last. The truth is that a country's exchange rate is too important a price to be left to market forces. Unless currency adjustments are made subject to rules or agreements, there will be currency wars, as happened in the 1930's. Unilateralism is no more acceptable in currency matters than in foreign policy. The United States needs to start acting as the leader of an alliance, not as a rogue elephant, and treat the health of the Atlantic alliance as a core security interest, not as an optional extra.

HEADLINE: A U.N. Seat for Europe

BYLINE: By Constanze Stelzenmuller. Constanze Stelzenmuller is an editor for Die Zeit. DATELINE: Hamburg, Germany BODY: THE most dramatic gesture President Bush could make during his visit to Europe is this: Call for a United Nations Security Council that has a single European seat. It's a no-brainer, Mr. President. It would get more attention for your basic message -- that Washington is now willing to work with Europe as a whole -- than anything else you could possibly say. It would also make you look more European than the Europeans; no mean feat in itself. As you know, the British and the French have one seat each (because they won World War II, too, and have nuclear arms), but have not been amenable to suggestions that they should step down in favor of a seat that rotates among all European member states. (Which is why the Germans now want one as well.) It would even make you look more United Nations-friendly than the Europeans. After all, they've been complaining that the United States doesn't take the United Nations seriously enough. This tells them they're the ones holding up reform by not being able to take turns. Here's a neat final twist: last weekend Chancellor Gerhard Schroder of Germany nearly torpedoed your secretary of state's efforts at rapprochement when he suggested that a panel of experts should re-examine the architecture of our collective institutions, including NATO. If you call for a single European seat at the United Nations, you'll be taking him at his word. And preventing a German seat.