Europeans Resist Bush Administration's Environmental Policies...

Europeans Resist Bush Administration's Environmental Policies and Missile Defense Program


Tens of thousands of demonstrators greeted President Bush on his first official trip to Europe last week. At issue, in the streets and among European leaders, was President Bush's controversial plan to build a national missile defense system, his passion for capital punishment and the White House rejection of the Kyoto protocol limiting greenhouse gasses. Militant protests in Goteborg, Sweden against Bush and the policies of the European Union meeting there, ended in street battles where three demonstrators were shot by police.

Mr. Bush is perceived in much of Europe as a shallow extremist, with little credibility given the many questions surrounding the 2000 U.S. presidential election eventually decided in a partisan Supreme Court. But America's corporate press largely dismissed European unease with Mr. Bush, chalking up their objections to snobbishness and anti-Americanism. Despite a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, where the two leaders exchanged handshakes and smiles, little was said that reduces Europe's fears about the consequences of Bush's pledge to scrap the anti-ballistic missile treaty.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Gregory Palast, a columnist with the London Observer newspaper, who examines European resistance to President Bush's environmental and defense policies. (A RealAudio Version Of This Interview May Be Found At http://www.btlonline.org)

Read Gregory Palast's columns online at http://www.gregpalast.com