More on that European Weakness...

I suppose to some people it seems like the US dominated or influenced WWW is unjustly critical of Europe. I suppose it seems like US commmentators are always taking collumn inches to boast of superior US-this or that, or more likely, inferior Euro-this or that. That's despite a generally falling dollar and a huge deficit that no doubt those same Euros wish would carry a real sting for US citizens.

However, this is another example of the kind of thing that needs saying- from Gerard Baker of the Times writing in the Weekly Standard. It's possible there is some kind of gathering storm in Europe, and that possibility is really only being taken seriously on the other side of the Atlantic, if at all. Bush's itinerary for his visit to Europe might be very important indeed.

Meanwhile the BBC has brought us Che Guevara's travels in Africa, Russian Jews returning to Russia, and an Aborigine bunfight arising from some sort of tragedy. That's just a small sample of what the BBC considers news. Not uninteresting, but not essential. In other words, their ideological approach to broadcasting is keeping them somewhat at the margins in terms of providing a guide to world events. Yes, they cover Ukraine (how could they not?) but Aunty's ideology combined with their Foreign Office-style diplomatic avoidance of certain kinds of controversy leaves our understanding- left to itself and the BBC- somewhat darkened.

Meanwhile, this article becomes another of the BBC's contributions to the doom and gloom anti-Iraq war movement simply by changing its title: just now it's not about a weapons haul, weapons labs or victory in Fallujah, it's about two US soldiers being killed. Presumably the BBC thinks that's a potential lead on a new story- the battle after the battle (after the much earlier battle) of Fallujah.

There's also this cunning little juxtaposition in the same article:

'The US claimed Falluja was a centre for foreign fighters who had come to Iraq to fight the coalition.

Earlier this week, Iraq's interim defence minister said 60 Arab fighters were among those arrested in Falluja.'

So what can we figure out from those figures I wonder? What does the BBC want us to figure?