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Bush victory 'a yes to war'
04/11/2004 15:30 - (SA)
Paris - Whether they liked it or not, the European press on Thursday saw George W Bush's decisive victory in the United States presidential race as an endorsement of his tough war on terrorism and a vote to keep up an aggressive American foreign policy.
There was also concern that in his second term Bush might pay even less heed to what is now dubbed the "old Europe" allies who opposed his hawkish drive in Iraq, and flout appeals to mend the transatlantic - and election-triggered domestic United States - split and revalidate America's image abroad.
On the upside, however, another Bush term was seen as giving a boost to business.
"Bush will now wage more aggressive polices in the Middle East and will listen to European partners even less," said the respected Russian business Vedomosti, suggesting that Washington could now go as far as striking Syria and Iran.
US votes for the general
"The US votes for the general, not the philosopher," said Turkey's mass-circulation Sabah daily of Democratic rival John Kerry's defeat.
In Britain, whose Prime Minister Tony Blair was one of Bush's staunchest allies in the post-September 11 "war on terrorism" and Iraq, the press was as nearly divided as America itself.
Britain's biggest-selling daily, The Sun, hailed Bush's victory as "bad news for terrorists everywhere."
But the Telegraph - like papers from Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Switzerland and in eastern Europe - also struck a note of concern about the transatlantic chasm, urging the continent to come to terms with an America that "is diverging from Europe: it is younger, more self-confident, more prosperous, more devout, more diligent, more democratic and, in short, more conservative."
In stark contrast was the left-leaning Independent which warned that Bush's conservative, Christian-based policies were likely to see "another four years in which the United States risks sliding back into an earlier age of bigotry and social injustice".
The left-wing Daily Mirror was far blunter with a front-page query: "How can 59 017 382 people be so DUMB?"
Another left-wing British paper, The Guardian, said Bush's decisive margin cannot be ignored. "We may not like it. In fact ... we don't like it one bit. But if it isn't a mandate then the word has no meaning."
Bush did the opposite
In France, which earned US wrath by opposing Bush over Iraq, left-wing papers like the Communist daily L'Humanite warned, "Nasty times ahead", while Liberation forecast, "The empire gets worse".
The conservative French press was less apocalyptic. Germany, another Iraq war foe, was less hopeful that rifts would be healed, saying the vote exposed deep contempt in the American political divide.
"The re-elected Bush says he wants to reunite his extremely divided country. That is exactly what he promised four years ago. In fact, he did exactly the opposite," wrote the center-left Berliner Zeitung.
- AFP
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