How much do Euros and Yankees distrust each other?
Even before Bush made his $15 billion promise to fight African AIDS--would like to blog on this when I have an original thought to give. Unoriginal thought: this more wonderful than words can express--the US and Europe argued over who was being friendlier to Africa. One aspect is the debate over GM foods, which Newsweek International did a story about (link here).

Part of my reporting was to talk to Tony Hall, a hell of a guy who has spent the past 2 decades fighting hunger inside and outside the US. Now he's the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. food agencies. Over the phone, he came across as a very sweet and earnest man (earnestness being a prized trait in powerful people), enraged at European environmentalists. Frightened of the repercussions of the spread American genetically modified food, Euro greens have claimed that the stuff is basically Satanic. In turn, many Africans have begun rejecting American food donations, with predictably awful results. But at one point in the interviews I did with Tony, he said which didn't make the peice:

"I think it [Europe's support of anti-GM food rhetoric in Africa] started out as a market issue. They wanted African trade exclusively, and what happened was, they hadn't realized that a drought and famine was coming. So there was mass confusion, and now they have to be held responsible for these very careless comments they've made."

A hell of an accusation, followed by a call for retribution. Is this "another example of the growing gulf between Europe and America" people like to write about ad nauseum? Dunno. It's impossible to know what's cynical hype and what's real culture-to-culture antipathy. But I was surprised by the ferocity of this, coming from a guy who is basically as decent as you could imagine.