Bush e Schröder d’accordo sull’Iran

<108527582"> Germania, Usa, Onu, Iran <108344880"> Iht 05-06-28

<108344881"> Bush e Schröder d’accordo sull’Iran

By Brian Knowlton

<108527583"> Dichiarando di non opporsi alla richiesta tedesca di un seggio permanente Onu, Bush ha offerto un piccolo aiuto politico a Schröder che deve affrontare una difficile battaglia per la rielezione.

Tre anni dopo che Schröder ha fatto infuriare al Casa Bianca per aver costruito una campagna elettorale sulla sua opposizione alla guerra contro l’Irak, Bush ringrazia il Cancelliere per il programma di addestramento tedesco di 1200 iracheni per le funzioni di polizia e di amministrazione.

Schröder ha cercato di presentare nel modo più positivo la dichiarazione di Bush: «non ci opponiamo alla richiesta di nessun paese di poter far parte del Consiglio di sicurezza», parlando di ampie differenze sul calendario dell’espansione del C.d.S.

Bush ha anche ripetuto che gli Usa sono favorevoli ad ampie riforme dell’ Onu su diversi fronti, per renderla più efficace, prima di parlare della riorganizzazione del C.d.S. Funzionari americani hanno dichiarato esplicitamente che gli Usa appoggiano la candidatura giapponese, secondo maggior contribuente Onu , e quella di 1-2 altri paesi, senza nominare preferenze.

La candidata Cdu alla Cancelleria, Angela Merkel, è considerata più filo-americana e liberista di Schröder; circolano voci per cui Schröder sarebbe considerato un cavallo zoppo dalla Casa Bianca.

Il presidente americano Bush e il Cancelliere tedesco Schröder concordano sulla necessità che gli europei continuino a inviare un «messaggio unico, mirato, concertato: non accettano lo sviluppo di un’arma nucleare»; non si sono espressi in modo chiaro sul rischio che l’elezione del nuovo presidente iraniano – che intende continuare il programma di arricchimento dell’uranio – possa aprire una divario tra le aspettative europee e americane.

Schröder ha dichiarato che essendo l’Europa fortemente dipendente dal petrolio mediorientale deve valutare attentamente la possibilità di sanzioni Onu contro l’Iran, più volte ventilate dagli americani.

Mentre il segretario americano alla Difesa, Rumsfeld, ha attaccato duramente il nuovo presidente iraniano (non amico della pace), Schröder ha mostrato di voler tenere aperta la comunicazione con Teheran; ha dichiarato, durante il viaggio, che non si può proibire a Teheran di perseguire un pacifico programma per l’energia nucleare, anche se c’è chi non ne è contento; si è detto preoccupato per la possibilità di sanzioni contro l’Iran. Queste posizioni non sono state riferite nella conferenza stampa della Casa Bianca. Iht 05-06-28

Bush and Schröder are on message about Iran

By Brian Knowlton International Herald Tribune

WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush said Monday that he and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany agreed that European negotiators should continue to send Iran a “focused, concerted, unified message that says the development of a nuclear weapon is unacceptable.”

And though the two leaders are still nursing a relationship bruised by the Iraq war, Bush offered Schröder a small political lift, with the chancellor facing a tough re-election battle in September, by saying he did not oppose Germany ‘s bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

Taking reporters’ questions with Bush after a White House meeting, Schröder endorsed the president’s message about Iran . “We’re going to continue being tough and firm,” he said. “The message must stay very clear.”

But the two leaders did not make it entirely clear whether last week’s election of a deeply conservative Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had opened any gap between European and American expectations of the talks aimed at halting any Iranian nuclear weapons work.

Ahmadinejad has vowed to restart the country’s uranium-enrichment program, suspended since November , for what he contends would be peaceful ends but which the White House fears could be a prelude to weapons development. Germany, Britain and France represent the European Union in the talks, which the Bush administration has endorsed.

The two leaders had a broad agenda on Monday, including Europe’s budget and constitutional crises, which some in Washington fear will divert European attention from shared security and economic objectives.

There were no visible signs of contentiousness between the president and the chancellor, although Bush described their talks as “frank” and Schröder called them “intense conversations.” Bush smiled frequently and appeared at ease. But when asked whether he had wished Schröder luck in the approaching elections, Bush sidestepped, noting that the chancellor was a seasoned campaigner. “As we say in Texas,” he said, “this won’t be his first rodeo.”

Bush, in his comments, did not assail Ahmadinejad, but he did criticize the Iranian elections, in which the authorities kept hundreds of candidates off the ballot.

“It’s never free and fair when a group of people, unelected people, get to decide who’s on the ballot,” he said.

Schröder, speaking through an interpreter, said that he “couldn’t agree more” with Bush. But he also noted that the new Iranian president “has emphasized that he wants the talks to continue, so here we are.”

Earlier, the White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, implied that the administration might be hedging its hopes after the Iranian election. “We’ll see on the negotiations,” he said. “We have reason to be skeptical.”

But while American officials have at times raised the prospect of seeking UN sanctions against Iran, Schröder said Sunday that a Europe highly dependent on Middle Eastern oil had to weigh such action carefully.

The defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, spoke bitingly on Sunday of Ahmadinejad, calling him “no friend of freedom,” but Schröder has appeared intent on keeping lines of communication open with Tehran.

Schröder spoke, en route here, of issuing an “aggressive offer” to Iran, and added that Tehran could not be blocked from pursuing a peaceful nuclear-power program even if some people were unhappy about this.

Schröder also spoke warily of the possibility of UN sanctions against Iran .

These positions did not come up in the brief White House news conference.

Nearly three years after Schröder infuriated the White House by building an election campaign around his opposition to the Iraq war, Bush thanked the chancellor for a German program that has trained about 1,200 Iraqis in police and administrative duties.

The meeting came with Schröder under a shadow. He faces an uphill battle in early elections in September against Angela Merkel, the Christian Democratic leader.

She is viewed both as more pro-American and more pro-free market than Schröder, and there was s
peculation here that the White House would regard the chancellor as a lame duck.

Schröder, widely blamed for a stumbling economy in Germany and trailing Merkel badly in opinion polls, dropped a planned California visit in order to return to Germany a day earlier than planned.

But of particular interest to Germany was its campaign for a permanent Security Council seat.

When Bush said Monday that “we oppose no country’s bid for the Security Council,” Schröder tried to place the most positive interpretation on that, saying the two differed largely on the timing of Security Council expansion. He said he was “happy to hear there was no opposition to Germany , as such” becoming a permanent member.

But Bush also reiterated that the United States favored broad reforms of the UN on a number of other fronts, to make it more efficient and to bolster its respect for human rights, before undertaking to reorganize the Security Council.

U.S. officials had lowered German expectations in advance – stating explicitly that the United States had endorsed the bid by Japan, the second-largest contributor to the UN after the United States , and perhaps one or two others, but naming no other favored candidates.

But Germany , the UN’s third-largest contributor, has not taken that as a firm no. Change in the council’s makeup requires a two-thirds vote by the 191-member assembly.

Germany has joined with Japan, India and Brazil to advocate permanent seats for those four and for two African states.

Schröder was to meet with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but because of pressures linked to the looming national elections in September, he shortened his planned stay.

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