As it turns out, America's European allies have also, by and large, continued to follow the hapless American president. The New York Times reports:
Why, despite serious misgivings, did European leaders give Bush most of what he wanted?On April 3, the night before the NATO summit meeting in Bucharest, Romania, Mr. Bush attended a dinner with European leaders and annoyed the Germans and French by lobbying long and hard for Ukraine and Georgia to be welcomed into a Membership Action Plan that prepares nations for NATO membership.
Mr. Bush lost that battle, but won two others the next day that would anger Russia: NATO leaders agreed to endorse a United States missile defense system based in Eastern Europe, and the Europeans said invitations to the membership plan for Georgia and Ukraine might come in a year, at the next summit.
Nevertheless, on the basis of remarks made to Der Spiegel, at least the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder gets it.*
h/t: Tharoor
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