Trying to Define the "European Trait"

After a summit with Putin in the Slovakian capital Bratislava last month, US President George W. Bush voiced "concerns" about Russia's commitment to democracy, evidence of increasingly chilly ties between Washington and Moscow.

Putin certainly will not suffer such a public rebuke in Paris, with the Elysée emphasising that Chirac has a more subtle diplomatic style than Bush

claims the AFP. The way the AP put this was:

Reassuring Putin, and above all not humiliating him, will be the order of the day for Chirac, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany and Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of Spain, the French president's aides say.

The diplomatic soft touch, something of a European trait, stands in contrast to the blunter approach President George W. Bush used at his meeting last month with the Russian leader …

Of course, what members of the the MSM don't tell you (and what Chirac's aides don't tell them) is that the "diplomatic soft touch" is applied to all — from Moscow (Putin-style or Soviet-style) and China to Khaddafi and Saddam Hussein — except Uncle Sam. Self-serving double standards, that is the true "European trait"…