■"Germany Pushes Proactive Path: Schroder to Use Bush Visit To Sell His Own Ideas, Calls For U.S. to Back Iran Talks," by Marc Champion and Frederick Kempe, Wall Street Journal, 16 February 2005, p. A13.

Neat article on what our European allies want from U.S.: want us to negotiate with Iran, want us to rethink the transatlantic relationship (letting Europe decide more); want us to forgive more Gap debt; want us to do more on CO2 emissions; want us to lighten up on China and let EU sell them arms; and want us to be more patient with Russia.

And you know what? Europe is right on all these points.

How hard would it be to make Europe happy? By my estimate: not at all.