Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

Some 10,000 are expected to greet President Bush this morning in Bratislava's Hviezdoslavovo Square says the Slovak Spectator. Quite a contrast compared with the rent-a-protest 7,000 who turned up in Mainz yesterday. But then Slovakia is very much on the front line of history whereas Germany isn't anymore. With the escape from Communism still fresh in most Slovak's minds, it's easy to see why people would want to celebrate the living embodiment of the system that triumphed and ensured their freedom. Another difference, of course, is that Germany's leaders, in their desire to win re-election three years ago, opened the anti-American bottle and the genie is well and truly out now. Slovakia's leadership, however, joined the "Coalition of the Willing" and took a very different tack.

Speaking of Iraq, well worth taking a look at is Bernard Gwertzman's interview with presidential adviser Robert Blackwill over at the Council on Foreign Relations. Money quote:

Gwertzman: Put on your Harvard hat for a moment. What's the impact of these elections and the recent Palestinian elections on the whole Middle East? After all, the president's been mocked by a lot of Democrats and others for the idealistic speeches he's been making about bringing democracy to the Middle East. Is this now more of a reality? Is this election going to put pressure on other states to reform?

Blackwill: The answer is yes. And, I must say, that those who mock haven't been paying attention to the empirical data that's been piling up. First, we had the Afghan election last fall with this extraordinary turnout. Then we had the Palestinian election. Then we had the Iraqi election. We're going to have a parliamentary election in Afghanistan in the spring. So this isn't a theory anymore, this is actually happening on the ground in the Middle East and it is absolutely revolutionary, these free and fair elections.

As the man said, "revolutionary". It's worth noting, by the way, that the entire revolutionary role of the Bush presidency didn't get much mention in the European press during his trip, which ends to today. Then again, seeing that the trans-Atlantic relationship has been reduced from substance to style, it is understandable that the media would prefer to focus on the charm rather than on the offensive.