Battle of ideas
Camp David: The hacks here are divided about whether to call this the 'roast beef summit' (after the food served to the president and prime minister) or the 'golf buggy' summit (after the vehicle Mr Bush took Mr Brown out for a spin in, producing a look on the PM's face that said 'this wasn't in the script'!).
The two men met alone first for dinner last night, then again for breakfast this morning. Next they move on to talks with fellow ministers and officials, followed by a wind-up lunch of what are being described as the best cheeseburgers in America.
Beyond all the eating, and the schmoosing, there is real business being done. (registration required) has caught many eyes. In it he acknowledges, "the debt the world owes to the United States for its leadership" in the struggle against terrorism. He goes on to declare that these are, "shared tasks to expose terrorism for what it is - not a cause but a crime - a crime against humanity".
Mr Brown, it seems to me, is trying to recast the whole war on terror. I understand that he is preparing a speech on the "cold-war-style battle of ideas" which he believes is now necessary. He has carefully studied a book about the CIA's role in fighting the "cultural cold war" entitled "".
I believe - and we will soon find out at their joint news conference - that Mr Brown will have given Mr Bush the assurances he wants about the UK's role in Iraq but he will have urged the president to fight a much wider campaign against terrorism - in part by showing that Britain and America can end wars and combat poverty in the third world.
I'm 
Comments
Has anyone seen that the golf cart has a sign saying 'GOLF CART ONE' on the front of it. Is this a sign of someone with a sense of humour?
The two men met alone first for dinner last night, then again for breakfast this morning. Next they move on to talks with fellow ministers and officials, followed by a wind-up lunch of what are being described as the best cheeseburgers in America.
Couldn't help smiling while reading the above Nick. One suspects that you are rather jealous of our PM enjoying all those goodies while in America, Nick!
Mmmm yumm yumm! You are working too hard Nick and possibly missing lunch.
Do not expect much to come out in the open after these talks. IT IS ALL SECRET YOU SEE.
Go and enjoy a few nice meals with the family Nick. It's summer, and we're in for some nice weather, at long last.
It is just another summit of bluster actually nothing more,nothing less.Nothing will be achieved except a bit more spin,some photo opportunities and all the media in a frenzy as to what it all means.
Call an old cynic,but I do not believe anything of great importance will happen.
Of coarse you know that already,that is why all this nonsense abou buggies and roast beef crops up....
Nick why are you linking to Wiki it can be edited by anyone?
It really shouldn't be linked to in a politicle article, it doesn't strenghten the peice at all. I guess the best thing would have been not to provide a link there at all. If Wiki is counted as a good source of real information by the ´óÏó´«Ã½ it should be of no suprise that they have lost credibility, with only 22% in recent polls trusting what they see/hear on T.V.
Anyone remember that Prime Minister that Hugh Grant played in "Love Actually"? The one that told the US President where to stick it?
That's the kind of PM Gordon Brown needed to be in order to convince me that he's not going to be another poodle.
There are literally tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dead Iraqis at the hands of George W Bush. For Gordon Brown to tread as softly as he has done indicates that he just doesn't get it.
As Iraq descends into an abyss we have the sight of GB1 (the US President) and GB2 (the UK Prime Minister) horsing around in a golf cart. What a farce!
I'm going to go against the trend here and say that Gordon is doing an OK job of things right now.
Realistically speaking, he can't "do a Love Actually" and tell Bush to stick it- the entirity of UK politics do not start and end with the PM, and it's still the same Labour party in charge. To do such a dramatic about-turn would be a disaster.
However, as others have said, Brown is going to be only too aware that Bush, and possibly his party, are going to be out of power before too long. He's taking the right line by portraying a 'business' relationship with Bush, and not a personal one. Getting the job done here and now, while probably already working out how to approach the new president in the next term.
(oh, and for the record, I support the use of a Wikipedia article here. I'm no supporter of it- I think it has to potential to be very dangerous when people rely on it- but when you need to provide some quick and easy info on a non-controvertial topic, it's ideal.)
GB owes nowt to USA, indeed, they owe us. The sooner they realize this the safer this world will become.
Nick
Are you going to mention Iran, or wait till it crops up ?
Gold buggies and cheese burgers? Is George Bush nothing more than modern day Bertie Wooster? I suppose that would make Brown his Jeeves!
James states: "It really shouldn't be linked to in a politicle (sic) article, it doesn't strenghten (sic) the peice (sic) at all."
And your comment does? Folks, who can't spell, sitting in glass houses hurling stones about?
So another British Prime Minister crosses the Atlantic and plants a big wet kiss square on our collective hind quarter. I'd have more respect for Gordon Brown if told the Washington Post that Americans are xenophobic, paranoid, delusional and morally bankrupt. I have more respect for Hugo Chavez. George Bush has approval ratings in the low-to-mid 30s. And yet another one of your Prime Ministers crosses the Pond for another pre-scripted, pandering dog and pony show. Why?
My nephew Pinocchio who can seem a little wooden at times went to the cinema to watch certificate 12A Transformers and I went with him. Wow! It was brilliant just the sort of thing the neocons love with lots of high tech boys toys, violence and just a hint of melodrama.
Later that day and after my nerves had calmed down I got to thinking about that golf buggy old GW was riding around in. Was there a Decepticon involved? I put this to Pinocchio who said it certainly seemed that way. So I asked was there any particular reason? He explained the driver and passenger were Decepticons and the cart seemed a little wooden. Stupid boy I thought, it was obviously that the passenger was an Autobot and the driver was off his trolley.
The photo of the two GBs sitting in "GB
One" does not stand for Gordon Brown nor Great Britain but George Bush's Golf Buggy. Like the lowly golf club member hitching a lift back to the club house by his victorious captain this is by no means an accident but a symbolic gesture to the world indicating the true pecking order of two great nations and that the US will always be in the driving seat.
It makes me cringe..seeing Gordon Brown trying to be nice to Bush (he managed a smile), you can tell by the body language, these are two different men with different views. What they said we have heard all before, nothing new. Brown same voice box different dummy..I mean body.Just spinning for the wider audience and media justing letting us know USA/UK are as one..
Your comment on Gordon Brown's key policy drive looks typical of the man. It's a sharp and all-inclusive agenda but a little abstract and not too friendly. I can be like that myself and know the hassle it can get you into. Hopefully, a more calm and rounded position will develop as things move forward.
Your mentioning "Who Paid the Piper" is interesting. It's come on my radar before but I've read enough stuff from other sources not to pay much attention to it. Coincidently, an opinion piece on popped up in today's Guardian. Between the two, some useful balance might be achieved.
The rational and militaristic mind of, say, martial arts is fine, but can get itself into bother if it loses touch with the practicality and sociability of, say, Shinto. Riding both horses, keeping a calm mind, and developing patience is key to Zen Buddhism, which teaches strategy through examples of the natural world.
Keep a suitcase ready for Japan, grasshopper.
Yes Abid Hussain, wouldnt it be wonderful if we had someone like that (Jaques Chirac came the closest i suppose) I expected nothing less of Gordon Brown than to publically be nothing but supportive and genial with George W Bush..it's just his innate sense of decency..the re-defining of the "special-relationship" will come with the NEXT Presidency..i think we can rest assured that with Bush ,Cheney et al OUT , a much healthier relationship will establish itself...the Republicans,and among them, those who still admit to being "Neo Cons",are in total free-fall. It's all about "face saving" for the U.S incumbents ,the hysterical foriegn policy of the last six years will only be adjusted when they go...
I hope,with you Abid, that Gordon will continue to distance himself from Bush , as he quietly,but undoubtedly is .
Nick is lovely, the best political corepondent by far.
Thanks for the link to Frances Stonor Saunders. I thought that much of the material on the CIA and Abstract Expressionism had dissapeared from the net (thanks to Gordon's battle for the soul of humanity) -but perhaps I'd just used the wrong key word search last time.
Actually, I suspect that the CIA has done something similar with postmodernism and "New Media". Otherwise I can't explain the decline in (academic) intellectual standards in these areas over the recent years. Time for Saunders to write an update?
In the meantime -shouldn't politicians be a bit more careful with their silly but dangerous cliches: I certainly don't want America to capture my soul..... but then I don't particularly want anybody else getting it iether. So who's funding Brown?
* 16.
* At 06:22 PM on 30 Jul 2007,
* Charles E Hardwidge wrote:
"Your mentioning "Who Paid the Piper" is interesting. It's come on my radar before but I've read enough stuff from other sources not to pay much attention to it. Coincidently, an opinion piece on Michael Cocker's Crow Country popped up in today's Guardian. Between the two, some useful balance might be achieved."
If by "useful ballence" you mean we should pay much more attention to the messages diseminated by intellectuals in relation to the way they are funded. Then I'd agree -although this seems discordant with your confessed lack of attention to "Who Paid the Piper".
Perhaps "Zen and rthe Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" was one of the first novels to suggest that "paying attention" was a good thing in itself. Indeed, this seems to be an important factor in many spiritual traditions.
On the other hand, applying "the lessons of nature" to human beings can also be disasterous if applied recklessly. I believe you will find that Thomas Malthus and Charles Darwin are collectively responsible for promoting (Victorian) rapacious capitalism through the idea that protecting the poor prevented survival of the fittest. Simply because feeding the poor only encouragred them to breed more poor kids who couldn't feed themselves. The "green" population argument defending the greed and self-interst of the rich.....
However, I don't know who funded Malthus and Darwin -presumably they were not gainfully employed.