| | Words in the News |
INTRO | | As President George W. Bush prepared to meet NATO heads of State and Government, there was unease among NATO members about his missile defence plans. BBC Defence Correspondent Jonathan Marcus sent this report before the meeting at NATO's headquarters in Brussels. |
IN FULL | |  | Listen to the report in full |
 |  | 13th June 2001
President Bush visits NATO
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NEWS 1 | | | Listen to the first part of the report |
| | | In an age of smart missiles and precision-guided weaponryPresident Bush is going to have to rely upon good old-fashioned charm if he is to win over America's sceptical NATO allies. There's a growing mood of transatlantic tension, both real and imagined; a feeling that European capitals and Washington no longer view the world in quite the same way. The Bush team has spoken with a number of different accents in the security field: Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld emphasising, as one US newspaper editorial put it, that the allies should simply fall into line behind the US, while Secretary of State Colin Powell has stressed Washington's desire for consultation and discussion. |
| | | | Listen to the words |
WORDS | | good old-fashioned charm: simple, traditional politeness
to win over: if you win someone over to your point of view you persuade them that you are right through friendly argument.
a growing mood: afeeling which is steadily getting stronger
transatlantic tension:tensionwhich exist between countries on either side of the Atlantic Ocean - in this case between America and Europe.
accents: accents here is a diplomatic way of saying different statements or views.
fall into line: a military idiom used here to mean ‘conform’ |
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| NEWS 2 | | | Listen to the second part of the report |
| | | Missile defence has become the issue that crystallises these US-European tensions, but there are many other problems ahead, ranging from the European Union's growing interest in defence, to NATO expansion and the crisis in the Balkans. President Bush is likely to stress that the growing US strategic role in Asia will not compromise America's fundamental interests in NATO. He may well stress his desire to see European allies do more in the defence field. Such an improvement in capabilities is the sweetener that makes the EU's defence efforts tolerable in American eyes. |
| | | | Listen to the words |
| WORDS | | crystallises: when an opinion, idea or issue crystallises it becomes fixed in people’s minds
growing interest: increasing involvement with
is likely to stress: the phrase illustrates that the report is speculative because it was written before the actual meeting - ‘to stress’ here means to emphasise
the sweetener: something that you give to someone to persuade them to do something they do not want to do
tolerable: if something is tolerable it is acceptable or bearable but not pleasant or good |
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| | | Read about the background in BBC News Online |
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