European press review

Many papers take a dim view of the United States's refusal to back plans to enforce a 1972 ban on germ warfare. Some see it as a further sign of isolationism, others as reflecting sheer superpower arrogance.

Germs are US?

The United States' rejection on Wednesday of new international proposals for enforcing a ban on germ warfare agreed thirty years ago, prompts London's The Independent to comment that "George Bush's cavalier defiance of world opinion is sometimes little short of breathtaking".

"Mr Bush's America seems in danger of convincing itself that it can force everybody to make concessions, while itself remaining impervious to change," the paper says.

"It is unclear whether this is pure hypocrisy or mere stupidity," it adds.

President Bush is treating America's partners "as though their views simply counted for nothing", the paper believes.

"This bluntness is not charming, but offensive".

The Spanish El Pais also thinks that "the world's superpower" has decided to "go the Lone Ranger way".

This latest decision has caused "a new crack on the relationship with its Nato allies," the paper says.

"With many countries endeavouring to build a new international legal order, America wants to stay outside the law," it adds.

"This creates an extremely worrying situation," the paper points out.

"In a world dominated by the United States in many fields... no stable order can be built on such imbalance."

"The international community has just been dealt a new rebuff by the United States administration," says the French daily Le Monde.

"Coming from the world's leader in the field of biotechnology, this is a major setback."

The paper contrasts the American view that the proposed document "cannot be used as a basis for further discussions," with the willingness of Russia, China, Cuba, Iran and Pakistan to carry on talking despite being critical of the present text.

"The Europeans looked as though they had suffered a technical knock-out after the American decision was announced," says the Swiss Le Temps.

"They expected a refusal, but not one quite so adamant as this."

Europe is now in a quandary, the paper notes, as it "must decide whether it is worth finalizing the protocol in the absence of the American superpower".

Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung says the decision reflects "a hugely underdeveloped understanding of alliances and treaties".

It concedes that Washington has a case in saying that it is difficult to monitor the production of biological weapons, but argues that it is out the wrong signal.

"Instead of working on refining verification methods and preventing industrial espionage abuses," the paper says, "they have wrecked six years of painstaking work."

Its compatriot Berliner Zeitung sees President Bush's conservative advisers as the driving force behind a unilateral course such as the world hasn't seen for a long time.

"But gradually it's becoming clear," it warns, "that there is a downside to unilateralism, called isolation."

The paper observes that the ability of the Europeans to "prise away" from the USA seemingly safe allies such as Japan and Canada has set alarms bells ringing in America.

Macedonia: Once more onto the brink, my foes...

In a report from Tetovo in Macedonia, the Paris-based International Herald Tribune says that government officials and ethnic Albanian rebel commanders "pushed each other to the brink of civil war on Wednesday with a series of ultimatums and threats" over who controls the roads and villages overlooking the town.

"International mediators from Nato, the European Union and the United States continued attempts to repair a tattered cease-fire and bring political leaders back to the negotiating table," the paper writes.

But their efforts were "hampered by growing anti-Western sentiment within some sections of the Macedonian government and increased calls by hard-line nationalists to renew fighting against the rebels".

...and the Russian view

From Russia come negative views of the role of the United States, Nato, and the West in general in Macedonia.

Komsomolskaya Pravda says the West supports only one side - the Albanians.

"If you want to stir up a commotion, take Nato's advice," the paper says.

It points out that the protesters outside western embassies in Skopje are people forced out of their homes by Albanian separatists.

The Albanians, on the other hand, say, "America is with us!", it adds.

Adding insult to massacre

The Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano is puzzled by the decision of the police authorities in the Bosnian Serb Republic to charge a woman's organization in Srebrenica the equivalent of some $264,000 for providing security at the laying of the foundation stone of a memorial to the victims of the July 1995 massacre.

The paper points out that the ceremony to mark what it calls "the worst massacre in Europe since World War II", was attended by "several thousand people", including international representatives, the leaders of Bosnia-Herzegovina, "and even those of the Bosnian Serb Republic".

The decision to bill the Srebrenica women whose idea it was to build the memorial is "disconcerting to say the least", the paper says.

It has "obviously brought protests" not just from the women themselves but "from all those involved in the arduous task of restoring peace and civil harmony among the different Bosnian ethnic groups".

Protest: who can afford it?

Slovakia's Novy Cas ponders the background to the violent protests by antiglobalization activists which marked the latest summits of the world's richest nations.

It argues that although the main point at issue is supposed to be the widening gap between rich and poor, not all those protesting seem to be afflicted by poverty.

"The citizens of Seattle, Prague, Gothenburg, Genoa and other cities who were forced to witness the mindless rioting of a mob of demonstrators, unashamed to use any form of violence just to attract media attention, are quite rightly asking who is behind all this violence, who is sponsoring it," the paper says.

It adds that the same faces appear in video footage from different countries and wonders how come the young rebels can afford to travel and finance their stay in foreign parts, especially in the peak holiday season. "Clearly, some of them can afford such extravagance," the paper says.

The European press review is compiled by BBC Monitoring from internet editions of the main European newspapers and some early printed editions.