Leaning Toward Europe

Dreaming of the FTAA - Mr Bush goes to Mar del Plata: "Prior to the summit, the leader of the Democrats in the US Senate, Harry Reid, attacked President Bush for having neglected the country's ties with the countries of Latin America and, as a result, US interests in the region. In recent years, many of the US's southern neighbours, particularly those which are members of Mercosur (the Southern Common Market formed by Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela and Paraguay), have been strengthening their relationship with Europe as a way of counterbalancing US influence, and Mercosur has already reached agreement in principle with the European Union about a free-trade treaty."

I think it is foolish to indulge in the arrogance that thinks the United States is unassailable as the dominating leader of the world economy. Out of my own ignorance, I do not take issue with the proposition that the US may be in such a position now, I simply suggest that one cannot remain in such a position while taking an oppositional attitude toward the rest of the world. The perspectives of the others who live on this planet cannot be shoved aside with impunity, in spite of the grandstanding of this president.