The Meeting with the Devoted Ally

The climax of the Romanian governmental delegation visit in the United States has been, by all means, the welcome at the White House of the Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, given by the USA president George W. Bush.

The talks in the Oval Office have been programmed to last 30 minutes (14:25 - 14:55), in Bucharest - 21:25 - 21:55. The press conference, with live coverage at three TV stations - CNN, Fox and C-SPAN - took place in the same famous presidential place, being a first time for a Romanian representative. This is an honor which is to emphasize the fact that our country has become a strategic country in its relation with USA.

APPRAISAL. The leap made from the first Bush-Nastase meeting at the White House, which happened three years ago, is huge. Then, the Romanian Prime Minister hardly managed to have a meeting with the American President after the one with Dana Nastase, a meeting with President Bush which became a legend. Now, the White House publicly announced, two days before the Romanian arrival, the welcome of the Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, and emphasized the ally role of Romania in NATO and "our contribution to the international effort of helping the Iraqi people".

George W. Bush is in electoral campaign and competes in the race for a new mandate, insists on the antiterrorist fight and the justice of the Iraqi intervention. The relation with other countries and political characters is pragmatically judged by the White House, on the basis of the actions taken towards these two important issues. This is why the Romanian contribution with military troops to the campaign in Iraq and Afghanistan is so intensely brought up in front in the media, this being one of the important issues in the present President’s campaign.

Bush asks the Americans to be "citizens, not spectators; citizens, not individuals; responsible citizens to build communities having a moral obligation and a nation with a backbone". And, Romania, through its political strategy, is a permanent support for the philosophy of this responsibility, one of the new allies that don’t doubt the justice of the Iraqi intervention. The Americans who comment upon this emphasize the fact that Romania is one of the countries in which there’s no one to criticize the Bush administration’s politics and which offers unconditioned support, without asking for anything in exchange, which is a rare thing to see these days.

THE AMERICAN PRESS. The Washington visit and the fact that the Romanian Prime Minister entered the front doors of all the key institutions of the Bush Administration have been analyzed by some important journalists at the American TV stations. Invited by Charlie Rose to the TV show WETA, Nastase blocked all the traps of the interview, a rare thing in this show.

From 5 o’clock in the afternoon (the middle of the night in Bucharest), the time when this mail went to print, the Prime Minister was to be interviewed by Wolf Blitzer, live at CNN and CNN International (London).

More details about the visit at the White House, Pentagon, International Monetary Fund, in tomorrow’s newspaper.

NEXT: MOSCOW

Governmental sources say that next week Nastase is to visit Moscow, where he is to be welcomed by Vladimir Putin, in Kremlin. The Romanian Prime Minister manages this way to have two meetings at a high level in a short period of time in two key-capitals for the orientation of the interests of Bucharest.