FRANCE

FRANCE
Le Figaro, Paris, Sept. 23: There's so much anti-French resentment in the United States that the mere announcement that Paris won't veto an American resolution on Iraq was seen as big news.
To believe the press on the other side of the Atlantic, the Americans now have just as hard a time imagining that France isn't their enemy as they did this spring in admitting that we could disagree on the war they were preparing in Iraq.
Resolution
Reconciliation between France and the United States can only come if U.S. President George W. Bush recognizes that the resolution he's putting before the Security Council will have more weight in the world if France votes yes rather than abstaining. We're not there yet.
BRITAIN
The Guardian, London, Sept. 24: It was a tale of two speeches, a contrast in styles and personalities that vividly illustrated the gulf dividing the modern world.
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly yesterday in New York, George Bush was uncompromising, aggressive, a shade defensive and at times threatening. At another level, his speech conveyed a deep sense of self-righteousness, based on what he defined as "moral clarity" and "moral law."
This was the U.S. president's first appearance before the U.N. since he usurped the Security Council, split the international community and launched into his war against Iraq. If anybody was hoping for contrition, or gestures of conciliation, they will have been largely disappointed. Olive branches were in short supply as Mr. Bush, eschewing any genuine effort at consensus-building, resurrected his old black and white view of a planet devoid of neutral ground and divided between civilized and uncivilized.
Simplistic analysis
Some Americans may find reassurance in this robustly simplistic analysis. But the rest of the world will look on uneasily, as before. Mr. Bush had an opportunity yesterday to build bridges - and chose instead to burnish his self-image as the square-jawed, undaunted Captain Marvel of the fight against evil. It was thus an opportunity lost.
SINGAPORE
Straits Times, Singapore: Sept. 24: The arrogant International Monetary Fund (IMF), a lead Western crisis-intervention agency, will never win a popularity contest in Asia. But it did seem that virulent anti-IMF feeling in the region was waning when there it went again!
In an unfortunate return to the bad old days of nanny-lecture, a top IMF official has blamed Asia for depressing the world economic recovery. This kind of blanket accusation has been made before, by the IMF and others in the West. But with the economies of China and India still strong, Vietnam coming up fast and Japan looking less grim, the timing of the latest lecture seemed odd.
Blame game
Western financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank can be very helpful, especially in a crisis, but playing the blame game is distinctly unhelpful. During the Asian financial crisis, the IMF loaned tens of billions of dollars -- and yet wound up resented for it.
IMF-style diplomacy won't do these days.