SOTU Divides Foreign Media

By Tom Regan, Christian Science Monitor. Posted February 3, 2005.

As the U.S. media focused primarily on plans laid out by President George W. Bush in Wednesday night's State of the Union Address to overhaul social security, foreign media zeroed in on his comments about Iraq, and warnings he issued to Syria, Iran, and other countries in the Middle East.

Radio Netherlands said that while Mr. Bush only mentioned 9/11 once Wednesday night, "the president's foreign policy remains rooted in the trauma of that day."

Qatar-based satellite news network Al Jazeera said Bush used his state of the union speech to prepare the world "for more death and destruction" when he warned Iran and Syria that they were "in his sights."

Not all foreign media saw Bush's words as being so threatening. Columnist Michael Gawenda, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, believes that Bush's speech showed he is actually changing his foreign policy.

Mr. Gawenda noted that Bush talked about consulting more with European allies, his desire to have the United Nations and the European Union help in the rebuilding of Iraq, and that while he did issue some warning against Iran and Syria in particular, his speech lacked "the dire warnings that were so stark in his previous addresses." Perhaps the clearest sign that Mr. Bush is prepared to make serious changes to his foreign policy is his commitment of $350 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority and his emphatic endorsement of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as Washington's support for both sides to achieve that goal.

Just what the U.S. is prepared to do to help the process is crucial. Mr. Bush talked only about helping the Palestinians with the process of building democratic institutions and ending terrorism but he was clearly signalling that his policy of standing on the sidelines and waiting for democratic reform was over.

Germany's Deutche Welle reports that European leaders liked Bush's "soothing words" about Iran, but worry about future dealings with countries like China, Syria and Cuba.

In China, the EU – dazzled by the world's biggest market – has gone on a friendly course, offering to lift its arms embargo. The U.S. sees the move as potentially dangerous for Taiwan, which still enjoys America's support against a Chinese takeover. The EU is also interested in normalizing its relations with Cuba, something Washington is strictly against.

Columnist Greg Sheridan, writing in the Australian, however, did not see any new directions in foreign policy, instead noting that the speech showed that Bush was "a man of his word, like it or lump it."

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