President Bush In Zagreb
Today the city was wierdly quiet, probably because most of the main streets were closed down thanks to a visit from President Bush. (Here he is pictured with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader). He arrived in town on Friday night, and this morning gave a speech in St. Mark's Square. As you might expect, security was very tight, and basically it was really hard to get anywhere in the city today. Greg even saw some news blurb about how all the manhole covers were welded shut--does this seem like a wierd security precaution to anyone else? It was very interesting to witness this quick visit as an American living overseas. As we know, the President often travels around to various countries. But the most you see about it on the news in the States is a few second video clip of him getting off Airforce One, or a brief speech or handshake.
In the receiving country, however, the entire thing is televised and much discussed. For hours. Literally, I turned on the national TV station HR1 this morning and it was a special "George W. Bush u Hrvatskoj" (George W. Bush in Croatia) presentation even though there was really nothing to show. Just live footage of people gathering in the square, various talking heads discussing what he might talk about, etc. It went on forever before Bush ever even arrived. Actually his visit here was very short. Just a stop off after the NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania. But Croatia was proud to welcome him and it was a platform for him to congratulate Croatia on being invited to join NATO. Not that everyone here likes him. Actually, as in most places, there are very divided opinions about Bush. But at the same time Croatia seemed proud to have a visit from such a world leader. Despite the complaints about the traffic situation.
posted by Amy C @ 3:45 PM
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