Most U.S. allies expressed concern after U.S. President George W. Bush’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night that overly hawkish tendencies may have won debates inside the Bush administration (see related GSN story, today).  Bush warned that the United States would not allow countries with terrorist connections to develop weapons of mass destruction, particularly listing North Korea, Iraq and Iran (see related GSN story, today).

Several analysts said Bush took a unilateralist approach, dividing the United States from the rest of the world.

“[Bush] described America in a truly global war able to fight anywhere.  There is no allusion to allies at all.  But in practical terms, the U.S. cannot fight wars without allies … It would not have cost him anything to at least make a courtesy bow to the allies,” said Josef Joffe, a German foreign policy analyst.

“We tend to see Sept. 11 in parentheses, an aberration that is now behind us,” said Francois Heisbourg, director of the French Foundation.  “But the Bush speech makes clear that is not the case for the U.S.  For Americans, Sept. 11 marks a strategic change in the landscape.  And that will be very jarring for many people here to hear” (Suzanne Daley, New York Times, Jan. 31).

Bush Showed “Simplistic” World View, Australian Newspaper Says

Bush’s speech “suggests that the Bush world view remains worryingly simplistic and selective, said an editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald.  Bush’s promise that the United States would act if countries remain “timid” in the face of terrorism gave “no hint … that he understands that he is talking of sovereign nations, some of whose governments are not so much timid as bankrupt and powerless,” the Herald said.

The newspaper also said Bush does not acknowledge that some “oppressive regimes” use the term “terrorist” to “demonize their internal enemies, who are often drawn from suffering ethnic or religious minorities.”

Bush also failed to say anything about future U.S. attempts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which “has fueled the passions that led many young Muslims to throw in their lot with [Osama] bin Laden,” the Herald said.  Instead, Bush mentioned two Palestinian organizations, Hamas and Islamic Jihad (see GSN, Jan. 2), as terrorist organizations that he vowed the United States would fight, the Herald said (Sydney Morning Herald, Jan. 31).

Russians Express Concern

Bush’s speech indicated that hard-line conservatives had won debates among the Bush administration about how to proceed in the war on terrorism, said Dmitri Rogozin, chairman of the Russian Parliament’s international affairs committee. 

Bush seemed to forget North Korea’s moratorium on producing long-range missiles (see GSN, Jan. 15), Iran’s help establishing an interim Afghan government (see GSN, Nov. 27, 2001) and U.S. attempts to revise sanctions against Iraq (see GSN, Jan. 18), Rogozin said (Daley, New York Times, Jan. 31).

Bush’s statements against Iran, Iraq and North Korea would likely raise serious concerns in Russia, said Time Moscow bureau chief Paul Quinn-Judge.

“All of them are pretty good allies and business partners to Moscow, particularly Iran,” he said.  “More hard-line figures such as Defense Minister Sergei Borisovich Ivanov are likely to interpret this as a dangerous drift in American thinking towards trying to impose their view on everybody else” (Tony Karon, Time, Jan. 30).

Speech Brings Anxiety to East Asia, Some Say

South Korea and Japan expressed concern that Bush’s statement against North Korea could lead to war or increase tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

“It’s scary,” said Choi Jin Wook of the federal government’s Korea Institute of National Unification.  “Some people think the chances of war have increased as a result.”

North Korea has the world’s third-largest army, 5,000 tons of sarin gas and perhaps enough plutonium for one or two nuclear bombs (see GSN, Jan. 14), according to the New York Times.

“I don’t think it is a wise thing to corner the North Koreans and cut any routes to talking with them,” said Yukihiko Ikeda, a Japanese congressman.

“The United States cannot deal with North Korea in the same way it treats Iran and Iraq, because North Korea shares its border with South Korea and is supported by China,” said South Korean Unification Minister Jeong Se Hyun.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is scheduled to meet tomorrow with Han Song-so, South Korean foreign affairs minister.

Lee Bu Young, a leader of the South Korean opposition Grand National Party, said caution is necessary on the peninsula.  “Mr. Bush doesn’t have to point out North Korea as one of the rogue states because North Korea has said it is against the terrorist attacks.  Mr. Bush’s remarks will bring anxiety in this region,” he said.

Some Praise for Bush’s Speech

South Korean Lee Jae Yul, a member of the Grand National Party, was more supportive of Bush’s speech: “We emphasize reciprocity and verification, and U.S. officials share the same view” (James Brooke, New York Times, Jan. 31).

Some Indian officials praised Bush’s mention of India, along with China and Russia, as countries that had recently worked with the United States “in ways we never have before.”

“That really points to the increasing dialogue and cooperation that is developing between the United States and India,” said Nirupama Rao, spokeswoman for the Indian External Affairs Ministry (Daley, New York Times, Jan. 31).

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