Obama seen cozying up to Sarko

Obama seen cozying up to Sarkozy

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni ,attended a private White House dinner with Barack and Michelle Obama Monday night, while the UK was mulling a refashioning of the "special relationship" with the US amid mounting suspicion about a possible military strike on Iran.

The Elysée Palace applauded the much-coveted invitation from Obama after a year of frostiness as "testimony to a special friendship" and "without precedent," as no other foreign leader had been invited to dine privately with the US first couple in the East Wing.

Sarkozy began his US visit Sunday in New York before having the intimate meal and a bilateral meeting in Washington. His visit also includes a joint press conference scheduled to be held today in the White House rose garden.

One Sarkozy aide claimed that the intensive interactions indicated the ending "once and for all" of the alleged French-US discord. A string of diplomatic snubs has chilled the mutual relations, as the US President failed to respond to Sarkozy's wish to be treated as Europe's pre-eminent leader, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported.

Sarkozy chided Obama's "nuclear-free-world" initiative as "naïve," while Obama re-sponded by declining to visit Sarkozy in his official residence after attending the annual commemoration of the D-Day Normandy landings last June.

The spats prompted French diplomats to complain that the US was progressively alienating the entire European continent.

The Obama-Sarkozy meeting demonstrates that Obama is not neglecting Europe, US Republicans noted. The two leaders are expected to find common ground on the Middle East and on pushing for tougher sanctions against Iran, according to The Times.

As the US is ferrying hundreds of bunker-busters to the Diego Garcia island air force base, signaling looming air strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, the UK urged to "say no to the US where the two countries' interests and values diverge," recognizing that its backing in the US unilateral strike on Iraq tainted its international reputation.

In contrast, Europe underscored the traditional partnership by pledging reliability when tackling global issues.

"An increasingly unpopular Sarkozy and a crisis-bogged EU have dimmed US hopes of leveraging Europe to intensify pressure on Iran," Li Guofu, an expert on the Middle East at the China Institute of International Studies, noted. "The EU bloc is plagued by both economic and political woes, as a financially crippled Greece has sent ripples across it, France's intention to take initiatives by teaming up with the US was blocked by Sarkozy's plummeting ratings.

"Britain, acknowledging the high price of its previous support to the US, is unwilling to commit the same miscalculation again, and the expulsion of an Israeli diplomat is a distinct signal. The split has complicated the US strategy, since only a combined voice may press Iran to succumb."

"The loss of EU support will disadvantage the US, prompting Obama to move to secure its planned operation by cozying up with France," said Yu Wangli, a professor at Peking University.