Kerry Win Would Leave Blair Looking Lonely -Analysts

[Robbien]

LONDON (Reuters) - A victory for Democrat John Kerry in November's U.S. election would leave Britain's Tony Blair looking isolated on the world stage as the last of the main three Iraq war allies to hold office.

. . .

But analysts are surprised at how little behind-the-scenes contact there appears to have been between Labor and the Democrats who, in theory, should be fighting the same battles.
. . .

If Kerry wins, Labor will make a big effort to establish a solid partnership, but Blair's reluctance to court Kerry now could sour relations at first and damage his foreign agenda. "The lack of a personal rapport means there would be less restraint on Kerry's part to acknowledge how insignificant Britain is and that would show how flawed Blair's transatlantic strategy is," said John Kent, a lecturer in International Relations at the London School of Economics. With wounds still sore after Iraq and wrangles at European Union summits in the last few months, Blair has little political capital left with his European partners to offer Kerry.

And there are signs that the French-speaking Democrat would seek to mend fences directly with France and Germany, both keen for change at the White House after clashes with Bush on Iraq.

That could leave Blair sidelined.


http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=reutersEdge&storyID=5815655

[Moderator]

1. Please fix your link

Thanks

[Robbien]

5. Sorry, it is always that rascally semi-colon which stumps me

fixed now.

[GreenArrow]

2. shouldn't Blair be in the Tower of London

or something?

[TahitiNut]

3. "French-speaking Democrat"???

:wtf:

What about the fractured-Spanish-speaking Republican?? These people are fucking appalling! DimSon's pretensions about speaking Spanish sure as hell didn't help keep Spain in Iraq, or "build bridges" to the Spanish electorate.

[Kellanved]

19. I found that strange as well

I've never heard a fuss being made about Clinton speaking German (he does).

[TahitiNut]

24. Well, in that case it's ...

... one (former?) coke-head to another former Coke-head. :evilgrin:

On edit: Ooops!! I intended this to be a reply to the below post regarding Mexico and Fox.

[LiberalFighter]

21. I guess a Mexican speaking president is better

/I intended it to be Mexican instead of Spanish in light of who speaks it/

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Link without the punctuation that DU can't handle here

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=reutersEdge&storyID=5815655

[noonwitch]

6. I suspect Blair won't be in office that much longer, one way or another

Either Labor will name someone else in the next cycle, or the Tories will win.

[Spentastic]

9. Can I have some of your drugs?

Do you want a freindly wager on Blair winning the next election. I live in the U.K and he is unassailable.

I fucking hate the bloke but God is he good at what he does. He lies spins and connives with a panache I've never seen. The Tories have a cadaver as a leader and the British pulic will not elect a ginge.

[Worst Username Ever]

11. My ignorance shows through

I have absolutely no idea what you just said.

[Spentastic]

12. Apologies

No speako Americano

Well I’ll try

I’ll bet dollars for donuts that Tony Blair will win the next general election. He’s harder to catch than a rabid racoon covered in vaseline.

Ah really don’t care much for Mr Blair but he shure do talk purty. Michael Howard is too busy tryin to keep breathing to do much else and Charles Kennedy has hair redder than the neck of a NASCAR dad. And As my granpappy told me, never trust a ginge son, they’re not natchural.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. You should keep the accent, Spentastic

it suits you!

[rastignac5]

15. Classic!

[Worst Username Ever]

16. You are silly.

What is a ginge?

[Aristus]

17. That was hilarious! You speak-o great Americano!

I'm still laughing. Your faux American slang made me happier 'n' a dead hog in th'sunshine! :-)

Right-o chaps! We're up the sharp end for a bit of how's your father, what? We'll him them for six! Tally-ho! Pip-pip, cheerio and all that rot! :D

[LibLabUK]

22. Umm

"We're up the sharp end for a bit of how's your father, what? We'll him them for six! Tally-ho! Pip-pip, cheerio and all that rot! :D"

You just said that you were going to beat your sexual partner!

[TahitiNut]

23. Cockney rhyming slang can be tricky, huh?

:evilgrin:

[cliss]

18. heh heh you're a good writer, spent.

Now, from what I understand the Labor party is the equivalent of our Democrats. Just imagine what an odd couple that was: Blair of the labour party teaming up with the most ruthless barracuda ever to swim the ocean of politics: the American Republicans.

No wonder they don't talk.

[xchrom]

7. that's the very least thing that should

happen to tony -- all those dead people and he thinks all that is just fine.
he's creepy.

[Jack The Tab]

8. I used to really like Blair...

I wonder if Chimpy and crew would have gone ahead with their bloody occupation if Blair wasn't on board?

[BillZBubb]

10. Without the poodle pushing war, Bush* would

have had to produce REAL evidence before attacking. My guess is the inspectors would have gone in, done their job and reported what we all know--Iraq's WMD stockpiles were a BushCo fantasy and the WMD programs were non-existent.

The world would be a far better place today. Blair is a war criminal.

[bif]

14. I feel sorry for the poor little lapdog

Yeah, right!

[truthspeaker]

20. Aw, poor wonely poodle

I hope he gets voted right out of Parliament and is beaten and spit on by returning Iraq vets.