If Russia, Germany & France don't participate...would they write off debt?

My guess is "NO"...what is the US expecting?

I share this becuase I saw a headline that Russia would not "write off" the debt Iraq owes them.

Of course shrub has Jim Baker on this....

should just default on it. I would if I was them. They don't need to pay Saddam's debts.

I don't think Baker will be getting his passport stamped in Canada, Russia, Germany or France. Bush has just shown why he went to war. To empty the US treasuryand give it all to his fucking contributors and cronnies. Ahhhhhhhhh, the spoils of war!

What's to stop Bushie Boy from saying "You know that big Iraq debt owed to you? Well we decided to write it off. As of now, Iraq owe you guys zilch!" Too Bad.

* Happens!

while Bush is in office. Period.

If he's reelected, you can expect four more years of increasing isolation and disengagement from Europe. Now OPEC is talking about dealing with EU's rather than dollars. Want a clue why?

Europe is STABLE with political structures that make sense and that other nations can deal with in the expectation that changes in one election will not take an entire nation or region into a radical and disastrous break with fifty years of diplomatic and economic commity.
Germany, France, Italy, et al, have long and bloody historys, and they are much less willing to "rock the boat" in international relations.

Clark is right when he says we need a new Atlantic Compact to restore our historic ties with Europe. As Europe grinds towards unity we have to be engaged with them or find ourselves facing an economic rival on a scale equal to our own. We are already facing political manipulation by the EU in this election, as their threatened tariffs are aimed at states Bush must have to get elected to a second term (or a first term, if you want to be strictly accurate).

They've already brought down the steel tariffs, for their benefit rather than ours. More to the point, they've proven that when push comes to shove, Bush will throw his own off the sled to keep the wolves away.

They aren't going to give an inch on Iraq, unless we PAY them to.