International observers

clipped from www.latimes.com The U.S. presidential campaign is being followed closely around the globe, often with a sense of excitement about the democratic process Asia China has learned that, no matter what they say in the campaign, U.S. presidents eventually engage with Beijing, given its growing clout. "So this election doesn't worry us so much," said Tao Wenzhao, professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Read more ... Europe While the current leaders in Britain, France and Germany have made their peace with the Bush administration, their publics are more inclined to hold a grudge. Read more ... Latin America President Felipe Calderon complained recently that the candidates have competed to be "the most loudmouth, the most macho and the most anti-Mexican." Read more ... The next U.S. president will inherit the Iraq war, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a rising Iran and competition from the growing economies of India and China for oil in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf nations. Read more ..