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Sunday Morning News

World Affairs Fraught with Tests for U.S. Diplomacy

Aired January 21, 2001 - 8:48 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: More now from the nation's capital. We welcome our new president into office.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to check back in with our Jeanne Meserve.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Kyra, Miles, all the inaugural parties and festivities are over. Now, President Bush is getting down to the real business, the business of leaving the country for the next four years. There will be many challenges ahead and new tests of U.S. strength in diplomatic relations.

CNN State Department Correspondent Andrea Koppel surveys the world and reports on just what Mr. Bush will be facing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The world that George W. Bush inherits from Bill Clinton is one riddled with diplomatic land mines, from the Middle East to South Asia, Latin America to Russia.

LEE HAMILTON, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: I think the toughest President Bush that the President will face will be the question of intervention. When do you intervene?

KOPPEL: Mr. Bush has indicated he might withdraw close to 10,000 U.S. troops from the Balkans, a move sure to anger European allies concerned about instability in the region. Closer to home, some fear Latin America could become a quagmire. Colombia now receives more than a billion dollars in anti-narcotics aid, but many worry about spill over to Colombia's neighbors.

In the Middle East, Israeli-Palestinian violence continues, the peace process in crisis. After eight years of personal diplomacy by President Clinton, bridging differences a monumental challenge for Mr. Bush.

SHIBLEY TELHAMI, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: It's not about doing good deed. It's not about just reducing the level of violence among Israelis and Palestinians. Because of the consequences for the rest of the Middle East policy in the region toward the Gulf, toward Iraq, it's going to be up there. KOPPEL: Ten years after former President Bush's victory in the Gulf War, the Clinton administration has failed to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. George W. Bush and his aides have suggested they want to finish the job.

HAMILTON: The real question there is what kind of resources are you prepared to spend to get rid of him -- military, economic, personnel and all the rest?

KOPPEL: Although not a crisis at the moment, Indian and Pakistani fighting over Kashmir remains a potential nuclear powder keg.

HAMILTON: Given the fact that they now both have the nuclear weapons, has to be one of the most critical areas in the world for President Bush to deal with.

KOPPEL: Equally alarming, warming ties between China's old leaders and Russia's more assertive young president, both countries deeply concerned about the Bush administration's plan to develop a national missile defense system.

(on camera): But the Bush administration appears unfazed. Recently Mr. Bush himself said without reforms, economic aide to Russia will stop, yet another signal from the new administration it won't be business as usual.

Andrea Koppel, CNN, the State Department.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: And the Bush national security team in place. Yesterday, his Secretary of State Colin Powell and his Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld amongst those who received Senate confirmation.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

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