Lot’s of interesting articles in the Guardian today:
Noami Klein is at it again:
Brand USA is in trouble, so take a lesson from Big Mac – Instead of changing his foreign policy, President Bush is changing the story

Last Tuesday, George Bush delivered a major address on his plan to fight terrorism with democracy in the Arab world. On the same day, McDonald’s launched a massive advertising campaign urging Americans to fight obesity by eating healthily and exercising. Any similarities between McDonald’s “Go Active! American Challenge” and Bush’s “Go Democratic! Arabian Challenge” are purely coincidental.
Sure, there is a certain irony in being urged to get off the couch by the company that popularised the “drive-thru”, helpfully allowing customers to consume a bagged heart attack without having to get out of the car and walk to the counter. And there is a similar irony to Bush urging the people of the Middle East to remove “the mask of fear” because “fear is the foundation of every dictatorial regime”, when that fear is the direct result of US decisions to install and arm the regimes that have systematically terrorised for decades. But since both campaigns are exercises in rebranding, that means facts are besides the point.
…
Talks to form a government are stalled over the Kurdish demand for control over Kirkuk. If they get it, Kirkuk’s huge oil fields would fall under Kurdish control. That means that if foreign troops are kicked out of Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan can be broken off and Washington will still end up with a dependent, oil-rich regime – even if it’s smaller than the one originally envisioned by the war’s architects.
…
Talks to form a government are stalled over the Kurdish demand for control over Kirkuk. If they get it, Kirkuk’s huge oil fields would fall under Kurdish control. That means that if foreign troops are kicked out of Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan can be broken off and Washington will still end up with a dependent, oil-rich regime – even if it’s smaller than the one originally envisioned by the war’s architects.

Susanne Goldenberg:
Bush steps up global charm offensive

Congressional Democrats estimate that the government spent $254m on public relations contracts during its four-year term – nearly double the spending of the Clinton administration.
Karen Hughes, 48, an adviser to Mr Bush from his days as governor of Texas, played a crucial role over several years in crafting his domestic message. She gave up her White House job to return to Texas in 2002, citing family concerns, but was active in Mr Bush’s re-election campaign.
In her latest reincarnation, she will be in charge of repairing America’s tattered image in the Middle East, easing anger about the invasion of Iraq and dampening new fears raised by Washington’s rhetoric against Syria and Iran.

and a last one on Chirac:
Milestone for the president who mirrors his people – Today, Jacques Chirac reaches 40 years in public office. So how did the fickle, food-loving president do it – and what has he achieved?

But for many observers, the real secret of his success is that the French see themselves in him. He is “un bon gars”; a good bloke, down-to-earth, no snob. Like them (certainly like their rugby team), he is not beaten even when he’s down, never stronger than when he is up against it.
“He can reinvent himself and come back from the worst of whitewashes,” says one pollster, Antoine Chaballier. “He just has to win one more time.”
Also like the French, Mr Chirac appears to be a bit dodgy: if his voters fiddle their tax returns and fail to pay their parking tickets, their leader has been accused of indulging in jobs for the boys, electoral list-padding, illicit party fundraising schemes and luxury foreign holidays paid for in cash. The French like to feel they’ve got away with something naughty; Mr Chirac’s many corruption scandals have not harmed him in the slightest.
Like the French also, he loves his food: he once came close to causing a diplomatic incident in Berlin by insisting, when the menu offered the choice of saucisse or charcuterie, on having both. And he has a big heart: one journalist recounts him spending half an hour looking for the mother of a little girl lost on the Place Saint Sulpice (he eventually found her in a cafe).

Posted by: Fran | Mar 14 2005 5:50 utc | 101