| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Bush Not Making Time for Canadian PM |
| 2003-10-20 |
| EFL AP from Newsday He scratched at the door, but White House officials weren’t letting Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien in Sunday. The prime minister requested a formal one-on-one meeting with President Bush during the two-day APEC summit here this week, but his appeal has been met so far with nothing more than silence. Chretien and Bush were expected to bump into each other several times during the summit, but U.S. officials shrugged off a Canadian request for a formal bilateral meeting between the men, who have never had a close personal relationship. "We told them that if we can, we should sit down," said a senior Canadian official. "If not, we’ll meet in pull-asides (informal meetings)." His relationship with Chretien, never warm to begin with, soured further when the prime minister refused to send Canadian troops to Iraq earlier this year to support the U.S.-led invasion. Message to Chretian - we’re neighbors; we don’t need to travel to Asia for a sitdown. You want to talk turkey? Oh, its beef imports. OK. Let’s look at my schedule. No can do - got a meeting with Vincente. See yah some other time. Kept the next item in the article gratuitously. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s mind is trained on terrorism and trade, but her stomach apparently is focused on Thailand’s notoriously foul-smelling durian fruit. In a tribute to the stinky fruit, Arroyo is throwing a gig billed as "The Durian Party" for aides and Filipino journalists at the end of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, officials traveling with her said. Because of its offensive smell, the fruit is banned in many buildings, airplanes and other enclosed areas in Southeast Asia. But Arroyo, who developed an early liking for the fruit in her hometown in the southern Philippines, doesn’t have to wait for the party to satisfy her craving. Thai officials hosted a lunch Sunday at a swank hotel for Arroyo and other fellow Southeast Asian heads of state attending the summit. After a meal of steamed fish, prawns and seafood, dessert was durian ice cream. Just how bad can the stuff stink. Regardless, I plan to give any ice cream that I eat a good sniff - just in case. |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #12 Between WW1 and WW2,England came up with idea of basing budgets on prediction of "no war for next ten years",and automatically renewed it each year. Canada,and to a lesser degree Europe,appear to have adopted this.To them,Russia is no longer a threat.China is viewed as non-expansionist,thus no threat.The current Islamic problem will go away as soon as there is a Palestinian nation. If you believe all that,then there is no need to spend money on weapons and equipment to fight a modern war.You just need well-disciplined,well-trained combat MPs that can be loaned out as peacekeepers.You don't need own airlift,hire charters to carry troops-I bet in future national airlines will start bidding(and getting)future charters. |
| Posted by: Stephen 2003-10-20 6:49:12 PM |
| #11 Bush attended the Summit of the Americas in Quebec, which even marginally still counts as part of Canada. I love Canadians, I dont judge them by the actions of their socialist repressive government, and I wish them every hope in overthrowing it someday and returning to the civilized world. Once upon a time, Canadians were known as people you could turn to in time of trouble. Today, because of the selfishness of their extreme left-wing government, we are forced to fight the war against terror without the backing of fine Canadian troops. The government of Canada has downsized the Canadian military force to the point that they are no longer capable of deploying a force of any size overseas. Canada, who once built their own aircraft, and had two aircraft carriers, now has one squadron of F-18 hornets and a small fleet of coastal interdiction craft. During the run up to Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Canadians did try t osend a frigate, but it had to return to port after the onboard helicopter broke down, and there were no spares to send to it. Get it? One ship - One Helicopter, No Spares. The Canadians have fine troops, limited though they may be, they are a great people and a wonderful country. But they are served by the worst most intrenched government in the world. And yes dear rantburgers, I do remember the Canadian troops we killed in "friendly fire" in Afghanistan ( side note - "friendly" fire is not friendly, time for another metaphor). I feel sorry for that and wished it handnt happened, but I can say with some authority that the situation might never had occured if Canadians had the proper equipment and training to be able to operate in the same theater with American Armed Forces. This is not unique to Canada, but is something that occurs in virtually every NATO country. For all the caterwauling about getting the french and germans to send troops to afghanistan, no one has bothered to check out just what they have to send. The truth of it is, the majority of NATO countries are paper tigers, incapable of fielding a force of any size, and frankly most of them are so poorly trained and manned that they would be a bigger danger to themselves than to the enemy. Example: 50% of Germanys military budget goes to pensions. Example: Heavy lift aircraft for the rest of NATO countries ( exception US and UK) is routinely done with Ukranian private aircraft. This led to the deaths of 300 Germans in a crash in 2002. There are estimated to be 12 heavy lift aircraft for the remainder of NATO. Example: US and UK are the only Armed Forces that routinely exercise with night vision equiptment. Oh, and back to Canada, The only reason they can downsize their military( and in my opinion drop their responsibilies to civilization), is that their protection is guaranteed by that big evil beast country to the south. The Canadian Leftists as well as the Euro Leftists can only exist because Americans have provided the security for them to do so. |
| Posted by: frank martin 2003-10-20 5:51:10 PM |
| #10 Bill: piss off Muslims--eat pork. |
| Posted by: someone 2003-10-20 3:04:18 PM |
| #9 Mr. Chretien- Why not come down to D.C. the next time the Senators play the Capitols? We can go to the game, talk in the suite. Isn't that better than meeting in Asia? |
| Posted by: POTUS Coordinator 2003-10-20 2:31:44 PM |
| #8 Have you guys priced the cost of beef recently? Rib eye ~ $ 14.00 per pound. Maybe we should have some kind of meeting to bring home cheaper meat/beef. |
| Posted by: Bill 2003-10-20 1:20:59 PM |
| #7 Considering the Canadians view on Terrorism, I'm glad BUSH is telling Chretien to go F*ck himself. * I must brain dead from that Durian Malt. * |
| Posted by: Charles 2003-10-20 1:08:24 PM |
| #6 Considering the Canadians view on Terrorism, I'm glad is telling Chretien to go F*ck himself. |
| Posted by: Charles 2003-10-20 1:06:56 PM |
| #5 Reports are, durian tastes great, despite smelling horrible. You kind of have to close your nostrils with a clothespin while savoring this delicacy. The flesh is yellow, with a custard-like texture. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-10-20 12:56:35 PM |
| #4 Reports are, durian tastes great, despite smelling horrible. Apparently the smell is a function of the rind or other outer portions, which you don't eat. Don't hold me to that, because I've never gotten closer to one than 20 feet. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2003-10-20 12:49:05 PM |
| #3 He wants us to eat Canadian meat... in a manner of speaking. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-10-20 12:39:04 PM |
| #2 What exactly would be the purpose of sitdown for Chretien? |
| Posted by: g wiz 2003-10-20 12:32:23 PM |
| #1 Well, the only two times I've smelled it (never could get myself to taste it), it smelled like two-week old rotten crabs, left on a beach even by the gulls. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-10-20 12:23:31 PM |