Albanian police say the reports of President Bush’s watch being stolen while greeting the crowd in Tirana are untrue.However, video from the presidential visit shows that while he began to work the crowd with a timepiece on his left arm, within seconds it was gone.
“The story is untrue and the president did not lose his watch,” a spokesman for the embassy in Tirana said.
Some newspapers, television stations and websites carried reports that Bush’s watch vanished on Sunday when he was greeted by ecstatic crowds in Fushe Kruje, outside the capital Tirana.
“It is not true,” said Albania’s police director, Ahmet Prenci.
Photographs showed Bush, surrounded by five bodyguards, putting his hands behind his back so one of the bodyguards could remove his watch. (more)
Early in George W. Bush’s presidency, liberal critics said: The economy is not growing. Which was true. He inherited the debris of the 1990s’ irrational exuberances. A brief (eight months) and mild (the mildest since World War II) recession began in March 2001, before any of his policies were implemented. It ended in November 2001.
In 2002, when his tax cuts kicked in and the economy began 65 months — so far — of uninterrupted growth, critics said: But it is a “jobless recovery.” When the unemployment rate steadily declined — today it is 4.5 percent; time was, 6 percent was considered full employment — critics said: Well, all right, the economy is growing and creating jobs and wealth, but the wealth is not being distributed in accordance with the laws of God or Nature or liberalism or something.
Last Sunday, eight Democratic presidential candidates debated for two hours, saying about the economy . . . next to nothing. You must slog to Page 43 in the 51-page transcript before Barack Obama laments that “the burdens and benefits of this new global economy are not being spread evenly across the board” and promises to “institute some fairness in the system.”
Well. When in the long human story have economic burdens and benefits been “spread evenly”? Does Obama think they should be, even though talents never are? What relationship of “fairness” does he envision between the value received by individuals and the value added by them? Does he disagree — if so, on what evidence? — with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that “the influence of globalization on inequality has been moderate and almost surely less important than the effects of skill-biased technological change”?
Rangers from Bulgarian mission in Iraq and honorary guard were at the square of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral for the official receiving of the American president George Bush.
Around 8.25 AM the American delegation retinue arrived in front of the cathedral.
The US president and the first lady were received by the Bulgarian president Georgi Parvanov and his wife Zorka Parvanova.
The guard orchestra performed the American and the Bulgarian anthems, after which Bush greeted the Bulgarian guard in Bulgarian language.
George and Lora Bush greeted the officials among whom were the Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin, Bulgarian ambassador to the USA Elena Poptodorova, Minister of Defense Georgi Bliznakov, Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov, US ambassador in Bulgaria John Beyrle, representatives of the American embassy and the administration of president Parvanov.
Bush laid a wreath to the Monument of the Unknown hero and paid tribute to the memory of the heroes who have died for Bulgaria.
Controversy between the United States and Russia about the planned US anti-missile defence shield over Central and Eastern Europe will be one of the dominant themes during US president George Bush’s visit to Bulgaria.
Nato member Bulgaria, which will not be covered by the shield, wants the same level of security as nearby states that will be involved in the scheme, which the US says is intended as protection against a potential threat from Iran.
Bush’s June 10 and 11 visit will include meetings with his host, President Georgi Parvanov, and Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev, among others.
Other security issues on the agenda include Bulgaria’s military modernisation.
Bush will reiterate US support for the Bulgarian medics facing the death penalty in Libya.
Bulgaria will continue to press for the US to scrap the requirement for Bulgarians to have visas to enter the US. In an interview broadcast on Bulgarian National Television (BNT) on June 1, Bush described this as a “tough issue” but said that he was working to come up with a solution.
Asked by BNT what Bulgaria would get in return for its military bases deal with the US, Bush said: “I don’t think friends really kind of measure decision-making on a quid pro quo basis”. On Iraq, Bush expressed his condolences to the families of Bulgarian military personnel who had died there, but defended his decisions.
