So for the rest of us. . .Follow

I'm still grinning like a cheshire cat about the outcome of the elections, and agree with most of Smash and Flea's lines of thinking. (No surprises there).

I watched Bush's speech and saw some sign of political astuteness that he has to now mollify the house.

So what does this mean for the world outside of the USA of Ame'cuh?

Tony Bliar's now (potentially) even more isolated and standing (very shakily) alone where Iraq's concerned. He might use the anticipated softening of Washington's stance to be less gung-ho and appease his own simmering party members.

It might be the tipping point for his imminent handover to Gordon 'laughing boy' Brown (long odds on that though - still reckon Tony will hold out til June '07)

Will Palestine be given a sense that Israel can no longer do what the fUck it likes without challenge? Enough to contain the Hamas hardliners long enough for meaningful dialogue between Jerusalem and Jericho?

Might it mean some serious support for the range of environmental treaties that USA has undermined by either vetoing or stepping away from?

Could we start seeing other nations backing the US, British and Canadian troops in Afghanistan? I know there are others there, but not in serious numbers. NATO and the UN have been calling for other countries (France & Germany in particular) to ante up and back the campaign seriously.

I know some of those are tenuous, and I suspect as time wears on we'll see the downside of a weakened Oval Office, but the possibilities are intriguing.

You might almost call them 'unknown unknowns'

Who is this Tony Blair guy? En-viro-mental trea-ties? Other Nations? I'm sorry you lost me. Iraq is somewhere near Europe right?







Sorry, someone had to do it.

What if the resignation was Bush's?







I can dream.

Never heard of him.

Oh, I thought that was Clintun.

Hah!

He died before his time. but is remeber'd for freeing slaves and bunch of other goods things back then he was probley 70%- i dont like our president 30% i like the president. i'm just saying if bush gets shot he's gonna become popular then what you gonna do lol.

And, yeah, I'm speaking for all of us here.

Totem

It's hard to know exactly what impact this will have on the rest of the world.

I don't think it will have any impact on Israel's actions, even with regard to a pre-emptive strike on Iran. If they really feel threatened, they'll do it.

As for the UK, well TB is a lame duck anyway. Like Bush, he's worried about his legacy, which means he's going to do fUck all for the rest of his term. It might mean that Brown will try to allie himself with the Dems more, which would be in line with his slightly more leftist stance than Tony, but even he will suck the cOck he's given.

The environment might just be one area where things move forward quicker. Or, rather, where things move backwards more slowly. The Stern report, the measures taken in California, the fact that the Dems tend to be less retarded on this issue, might just make an interntional framework of some sort possible. Eventhough this is a long-term prospect, since those things take so much time. Kyoto is dead and buried, so they'll have to redraft something new. 10 years is optimistic, I think.

It is quite possible that the US will be more open to international cooperation than before. I'm pretty sure most of the Democrats realised that going alone in Iraq was a mistake, and that these actions need the broad support of the "interntional community". Hopefully this will push the new government towards a more internationalist approach, not just on peace and security, but on other issues as well. There is no doubt that Rumsfeld departure and Bush's weakening will make other European nation more willing to do business with the US on the international scene. Whether anything practical and solid will come out of this is doubtful, but it will be a start, and might lay some foundations for future.

One thing that will most likely happen though, except if we get a terrorist attack soon, is that most countries will feel as though a page has been turned. The end of the Bush nightmare is in sight. Maybe, just maybe, things like Guanta (if they close it soon), Iraq (if they leave soon and the country doesnt turn into a bloodbath), Abu, will become relics of the Bush administration, and the US can say "it was them before, now we're different). That, coupled with more sensible and sensitive decisions on the international scene, might just help to ease the strained relationship between the West and the Muslim world.

That's a lot of "ifs", and a lot of maybes.

But, if nothing, most people in Europe seem happy about the rseults of this election. People are letting out a sigh of relief. This morning in the tube, people were wearing bright colours, giving each other hugs, and singing "Imagine all the people... la la la".

Ok, maybe not, but it kinda felt that way.

On the Latin American front, Chavez is saying that the results of this vote indicate that Americans, do, in fact "have a conscience" and is viewing it as punishment for Bush's policies.



Edited, Nov 9th 2006 at 7:47am PST by Atomicflea

Is he implying that Europeans are trained apes? That's what I'm getting... But then again, great poets are always mysterious, and their metaphors tortuous, and their allegories pernicious.