Why Rumsfeld put ‘old Europe’ in the firing line

HE may have angered Chirac and Schröder (Irish Examiner, Jan 24), but Donald Rumsfeld was playing a canny diplomatic game in claiming that France and Germany were merely the ‘old Europe.’

Several of the nations admitted to NATO during last autumn’s admission-fest are also set to join the EU.

The Bush administration is well aware that by ingratiating themselves with the likes of Hungary and the Czech Republic, and including them in the ‘possible’ war on Iraq, they will help create a bloc, presumably led by Britain, which will be less sceptical of the USA than the current set-up dominated by France and Germany.